The public has been urged by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to ignore a rumoured increase in transportation costs starting on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.
On Wednesday, a few transportation unions gave notice of their plan to raise fares by 30%.
Although the GPRTU supports an increase in transportation costs, it believes that before such a decision is made, the government must be consulted and other concerns must be considered.
Godfred Abulbire, the general secretary of the GPRTU, informed Citi News that the leadership of the union has started the procedures for such interaction with the Ministry of Transportation.
“Our position is that, fuel prices have gone up, which must be equated to fare increment. But that is not the only component we consider when adjusting prices.”
“A committee has been set up to do the fact-finding for the report to be submitted to the Minister so we agree. But settling on a particular margin and timeline now will be creating fear and panic”, he said.
He also bemoaned a sharp decline in the use of commercial road transportation as a result of rising transportation costs.
In May, transportation costs increased by 20 percent.
The nationwide average price for gasoline and diesel as of May 9, 2022, when the new rates went into effect, was GH9.41 for petrol and GH11.12 for diesel.
At this time, the price of petrol per litre has surpassed GH11, while the cost of diesel per litre is currently over GH14 at most petrol stations.
