DIRTYING OF ROADS

Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Communications whether his Ministry is aware that road line-drawing vehicles often dirty the roads by spilling paints while drawing lines on roads and, if so, what measures are being taken to prevent the roads being dirtied by such vehicles.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: The vehicles used for drawing lines on the roads should not spill any paint on the roads while doing the job. This is as the road-marking paint, called thermoplastic paint, comes in powder form. Vehicles that draw road lines have to be fitted with heating devices to turn the powder into liquid form just before the paint is applied on the roads. Paint marks on the roads are likely to be caused by spillage from trucks carrying normal paints, not road-marking paint.