Commercial transport operators threaten increment in transport fares
As the prices of fuel continue to rise, those it has hit the hardest, the private commercial transport operators Ghana Private Road Transport Union are nursing the idea of increasing their fares if the government does not reduce some taxes on petroleum products.
According to the stakeholders in the commercial road transport industry, they are disappointed in the government “for not putting in place any mitigating or stabilization measure to curtail the hikes in fuel and petroleum products in Ghana”.
They further expressed their anger by deeming the government’s attitude as “half-hearted”, the operators consisting of the Concerned Drivers Association, Committed Drivers Union, and True Drivers Union said their welfare has been relegated to the rear in the scheme of things.
For them, the disappointment stems from the failure of the government to commit to its assurance to operators that it will continue with efforts to prevent a steep rise in input cost.
The operators revealed that “It was based on this assurance that members of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council agreed to increase transport fares by 13% on 2nd June 2021.”
Therefore, they are urging the government to consider reviewing the taxes on petroleum products, especially on Diesel and Petrol.
They as a matter of urgency want the government to scrap the following taxes: Special Petroleum Tax (46 pesewas/Litre), Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (16 pesewas/litre), BOST Margin (9 pesewas/litre), and Sanitation and Pollution Levy (10 pesewas/litre).
“We also believe that the Energy Debt Recovery Levy and the Energy Sector Recovery Levy should be merged and reduced to 30 pesewas per Litre,” they suggested.
Adding that “We believe that the removal of these taxes will reduce the prices of diesel and petrol by Ghc1.20/Litre each.”
Also. they threatened that failure by the government to meet these demands will culminate in “no alternative than to increase our fares by 20% to recover the cost of our operations and debt we have incurred during these price increments”.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
