GPRTU hopeful of completing negotiations with gov’t over new fares

• Posted on May 10, 2021May 10, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The leadership of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) will, this week, resume dialogue with the Transport Ministry and other stakeholders on a possible transport fares increment.

The union says the previous dialogue ended inconclusively because of the unstable pump prices of fuel.

The dialogue commenced after transport operators proposed an upward adjustment of transport fares between twenty and forty percent.

Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of GPRTU, Mr. Godwin Abulbire said, they will honour Tuesday’s engagement with an open mind.

According to him, the group is expectant of an increment that will cover the recent increase in the margins of fuel prices.

“What made us not conclude the dialogue last Wednesday was that the fuel margins, which are currently at 9 pesewas, must even come down, so obviously we couldn’t have arrived at a particular figure that we were pushing for. Initially, our target was a 20% increment but it seems the price of the fuel is coming down. So that is why we decided not to propose any figure since on Tuesday, we will get the actual margins to increase our fares.”

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union had stated that transport fares could go up by as much as 20%.

The group had indicated its resolve in announcing the new fares on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, but the government called them to the negotiation table.

“We are looking to increase the fares because our argument doesn’t rely on the increase or decrease of fuel prices alone. Before the budget was laid before the government, we were advocating for an increase in transport fares and after the budget was read we were told to wait for its approval. So, tomorrow’s meeting will determine whether we will do a 10, 15, or 20% adjustment to the fare,” GPRTU’s General Secretary said.

The GPRTU and the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) had asked commercial drivers not to increase fares until the negotiations are completed on the matter.