Following the government’s refusal to engage them on calls for lower fuel prices, transportation providers (GPRTU) claim they will be forced to raise fares.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the country’s biggest transport union, claims its members’ operations have become challenging since they are now losing money owing to the current fuel price.
In a Citi News interview, GPRTU General Secretary Godfred Abulbire said that they anticipated the government to honor its commitment by lowering fuel prices, but fuel prices have instead risen.
He said that the position of drivers and automobile owners is unfortunate and that they urgently want some assistance.
“All the efforts we made before the reading of the budget have not yielded any result. We were told that definitely from the next pricing window fuel prices will come down but that same night, GOIL was able to come down which was an indicator that what we were requesting will be achieved. So we concluded the meeting with the hope that by the following week, GOIL will go lower. Shortly after, fuel prices started going up, and far more than we thought. It is serious. We are running at a very serious loss,” he said.
He went on to say that the GPRTU and other transport unions would meet on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed.
“Two-thirds of our total income goes into fuel. People may not be able to maintain their cars and that can lead to accidents. The best option is that we have to go back, get another meeting and have the government understand that if the first option is what they are refusing, then our option is to increase the fares by a margin that will cushion us to at least break even. All the transport operators are holding a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the way forward.”
Last year, the GPRTU and other transport unions went on strike, seeking a drop in fuel prices, which were approaching the GH7 threshold.
Fuel prices, on the other hand, surpassed the GH7 mark over the weekend, with forecasts of a few more pesewas added in the following weeks.
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
