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Monday, May 22, 2006
P2B veggies income per year lost due to load limit: traders
By Jane Cadalig
THE North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) is doing harm than good to the Benguet vegetable industry, said the Benguet Vegetable Traders and Truckers Association Inc. (BVTTAI), adding that the vegetable industry is losing around P7.2 million to P2.04 billion a year due to Nlex load limit.
Since Nlex started its operations last year, the traders said the quantity of vegetables delivered to Metro Manila was tremendously reduced.
The group now delivers 550 to 700 tons of vegetables daily to the Metro Manila areas, down from 800 to 1,200 tons before. The volume delivered doubles during the peak delivery season, which is from November and December.
Some 36,000 to 102,600 tons of fresh vegetables yearly is lost due to NLEx operations as per the group's official computation.
BTTAI president Benny Hipolito said they have to decrease the quantity of agricultural commodities loaded in their delivery trucks to adjust to the load limit imposed by the Nlex management.
Before, a six-wheeler truck was allowed a load of 10 to 16 tons while a 10-wheeler truck could load 20 to 25 tons of vegetables.
The load capacity was reduced to seven to nine tons and 10 to 16 tons for the six-wheeler and 10-wheel trucks, respectively, in 2005. About 25 vegetable delivery trucks from Benguet are plying Nlex daily - 10 six-wheelers and 15 10-wheel trucks.
Because of the new load limit imposition, the group explained that at least three tons to at most 10 tons of vegetables is already considered not purchased, which when totaled, sums up to a minimum of 36,000 tons to a maximum of 102,600 in a year.
The quantity of unpurchased vegetables multiplied by P10, which is the average price per kilo, would result in P3.6 million to P1.02 billion worth of lost income a year. This is true for Manila-bound trucks only.
If the provincial-bound delivery trucks are included, the estimated losses would be from P7.2 million to P2.04 billion per year.
The BVTTAI said losses incurred due to the reduced load allowance is even worse than the problem on smuggling. "Vegetable smuggling is seasonal but the loss we incur due to Nlex is on a daily basis. We thought they (Nlex) would be our partner (in keeping the vegetable industry alive) because taking the route facilitates the delivery of vegetables, but they proved us wrong because they have become so strict on us," the group said.
The group, whose members have been apprehended many times for overloading, reiterated earlier requests for the private corporation to adjust the load limit imposition to 17 tons, at least for the 10-wheeler truck, which is the maximum allowed by the public works department and the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
The Nlex management earlier explained that it is very strict in implementing the anti-overloading law to avoid incurring damages to the expressway, which has a life span of seven years.
(May 22, 2006 issue)
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