National Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Alhaji Yaw Manu has revealed that the petroleum deregulation policy will have no impact on transport fares.
As fuel prices rise and fall every fortnight, some Ghanaians have been expecting a corresponding elasticity in the prices of other commodities whose pricing are often affected by changes in fuel prices – like transportation fares. This has not exactly been the case since the implementation of the deregulation policy. The Ghana Private Road Transport Association did not review transportation fares downwards in the month of July 2015, even though prices of petroleum products decreased by an average of 15 per cent.
As petroleum prices change today, with Oil Marketing Companies like Shell, Goil and Total Ghana Ltd reducing their prices despite the Africa Center for Energy Policy’s expectation that prices will go up by 3 per cent today, questions have been raised as to whether there will be a corresponding revision of transportation fares.
According to the National Chairman of the GPRTU, transport operators cannot adjust their prices as frequently as fuel prices change under the deregulation policy.
‘Even though we depend on fuel as a major input in our business, we cannot change prices as frequently as fuel prices change. We have agreed with government to review the prices yearly. It may go up or down. But we cannot always change our prices.’ Alhaji Manu told the media Monday.
The GPRTU boss also emphasized that, given that Oil Marketing Companies have different prices at which they sell their products, it will be difficult to get a suitable pricing system for transport fares. They will therefore stick to their agreement with government to review transport fares annually.