By GNA Team
Accra, Aug. 5, GNA – The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) says it will not immediately reduce transport fares despite the Government’s GH¢2 per litre diesel margin intervention.
The Union said current diesel prices and operating costs remained above the threshold required to justify a reduction in fares.
Mr Samuel Amoah, Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GPRTU, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, explaining that the Union had suspended plans to increase transport fares by 30 per cent after the Ministry of Transport engaged it on measures to reduce fuel prices.
“We were proposing a 30 per cent increment, but then we went to the Transport Ministry and were engaged. They told us to hold on because the government was trying to put in some measures that would bring the fuel price down,” he said.
He said the Union was therefore not surprised when President John Dramani Mahama announced the reduction in diesel margins.
Mr Amoah said transport fares were last reduced by 15 per cent when diesel sold at about GH¢15 per litre, compared with the current average price of about GH¢17 per litre after the Government’s intervention.
“If we were to apply our percentage threshold, it actually means fares should have increased rather than reduced,” he said.
Mr Amoah said fuel prices were only one of the factors considered in determining transport fares.
He said the Union also took into account the cost of spare parts, lubricants, insurance premiums, taxes, vehicle licensing fees and assembly charges, which had all increased in recent years.
Mr Amoah said the Union and the Government had subsequently agreed to continue monitoring developments before taking any decision on transport fares.
He said the diesel margin reduction would remain in force for one month, while fuel prices continued to be reviewed twice monthly under the petroleum pricing regime.
Mr Amoah said transport operators welcomed the intervention but remained concerned about declining daily earnings after purchasing fuel and meeting other operating expenses.
He said the Union would continue to monitor fuel prices and other economic indicators and would review transport fares only when the required percentage threshold had been met.
Mr Amoah urged the public to appreciate the Government’s intervention, saying it had averted what would otherwise have been a 30 per cent increase in transport fares, adding that any future fare reduction would depend on sustained lower fuel prices and a decline in other operating costs.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey