Stakeholders in the transport sector have finally increased transport fares by 15%.
The new fares take effect from Monday February 1, 2016.
The Acting General Secretary of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), Andrews Kwesi Kwakye announced the increase on Sunday, January 31 at the PROTOA head office in Accra.
He gave the assurance that accurate charges have been communicated to every local drivers’ union to avoid the situation where confusion is reported between passengers and drivers.
[contextly_sidebar id=”2PMxlDz7igki8FMd9XcVMyFF9pHsT9q4″]The new fares are as a result of the increase in the prices of petroleum products on January 4, 2016.
The various transport unions had been in talks with government over the increment for the past four weeks with some commercial drivers complaining about the delay and its effect on their operations.
The latest increase of between 18 to 30 percent in the prices of petroleum products, was occasioned by the passage of the Energy Sector Levy (ESL) by Parliament in December last year.
A gallon of petrol now sells around Ghc15.40 pesewas with diesel going for Ghc14.50 pesewas. The price of LPG has also gone up by about 18 percent.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) had warned all its members to desist from increasing transport fares until new fares were announced after negotiations.
In recent times, transport fares have remained unchanged despite intermittent marginal reductions in the prices of petroleum products as a result of the implementation of the petroleum deregulation policy.
But transport operators have argued that increases in fares are not only determined by upward adjustments in fuel prices but hikes in the prices of spare parts and others which have all gone up drastically.
Already Ghanaians are lamenting about the harsh economic conditions following the increases in utility tariffs and newly introduced taxes.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie