Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) —  Control over compliance with weight and size regulations for freight vehicles will soon shift to the private sector. This initiative was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 28 October.

Designated areas along highways will be allocated for setting up stationary and mobile weight and dimension control points.

Operators of these control points will be private entrepreneurs, responsible for purchasing and installing measurement equipment and establishing necessary infrastructure at their own expense.

The operators will be selected through online auctions, with a lease term of 20 years and an option to transfer leasing rights to third parties.

The minimum starting bid at auction varies by road category:

- International highway — 50 sizes of basic estimated value (18.75 million soums),

- National road — 40 sizes of basic estimated value (15 million soums),

- Local road — 30 sizes of basic estimated value (11.25 million soums).

The auction winner will sign a lease with the Committee on Roads and must install the equipment within a year, operating it in a five-day test mode before official launch.

For the first two years, operators will receive 40% of fines collected from violations of weight and size standards, dropping to 30% thereafter.

The Committee on Roads Development Fund will receive 35% of these fines in the initial two years, increasing to 45% later. The Ministry of Transport’s fund for transport and logistics development will receive 15%, and 10% will go to the state budget.

Mobile control points will also monitor truck violations of signs for vehicles over 12 tons, with the same revenue distribution: operators receive 40% of fines for the first two years and 30% subsequently (10% and 20% to the state budget in respective periods, and 50% to the Ministry of Transport fund).

Since April, truck owners of vehicles exceeding 10 tons are required to pay a road usage fee. The fee, determined by vehicle weight, starts from 5 BRV (1.875 million soums).