Special topics
The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC-GH) has called for a policy for the determination of transport fares in the country, saying it cannot be left to the whims of commercial drivers.
According to COPEC-Ghana, a policy framework would be needed to guide the determination of fares.
The Executive Secretary of COPEC-GH, Duncan Amoah, speaking to Class Business, said such a framework would help remove arbitrary increases in transport fares whenever there are changes in prices of petroleum products.
“Indeed, Ghanaians have often been left in the middle when issues of fuel prices vis-à-vis transport fare adjustments have been on the burner. You will recall not long ago the public were up in arms with transport operators for increasing transport fares. Sometimes you cannot blame the transport operators outright because the cost of they doing business or sustaining themselves gets high as fuel cost goes high and spare parts goes up,” he stated.
“We are advocating that there ought to be a compromise transport fare policy immediately to be able to give some predictability to both the transport operator and to the general public. In that if we are all clear in our minds that when fuel prices do a 10 per cent increment, we are likely to see some four to five per cent, maybe, transport fare increase and then the reverse should also be the case. If it goes down by say 10 per cent, we should see a maximum four to five per cent reduction, so that all of us – civil society, the public and the media – would be able to monitor to ensure that the public is not taken for granted.”
Meanwhile, COPEC-Ghana has predicted petroleum prices at the pump are likely to climb above current levels in 2017.
Source: http://www.classfmonline.com/1.10493212
