Some 500 overloaded trucks have been stopped and collectively fined more than $300,000 by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in the past five months.

According to a series of reports by the ministry, inspection stations across the country collected a total of $310,000 from 532 trucks found to exceed the weight limit – by anywhere from four to 48 tonnes – from May to September this year.

“We are committed to cracking down on 100 percent [of overloaded trucks] in order to reduce road damage,” Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said in a meeting on Wednesday. “We do not care who the overloaded trucks belong to . . we abide by the law and fine all of them without exception.”

The crackdown will be carried out by a newly established task force comprising the police, ministry officials, experts and technicians, he said, who will be dispatched across the country to demand overloaded truck drivers dismantle modifications that allow their vehicles to carry heavier loads than legally allowed.

The task force will be allowed to dismantle the modifications on behalf of truck owners for a service fee, he added.

San Chey, executive director of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, acknowledged the importance of the task force, but said that it has to “work hard and be active”, in addition to being “transparent and accountable in order to avoid criticism”.