The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) says it will maintain its proposed 30% increase in transport fares despite the latest rise in fuel prices.

Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GPRTU, Samuel Amoah, said the union’s proposed adjustment was based on fuel prices at the time discussions with the government’s committee began.

Speaking on JoyNews The Pulse on Wednesday, he said the latest fuel price increase would be factored into the discussions when the committee submits its report.

“The current price of fuel that we are buying now is just used to those calculations that we came up with this 30% proposed increment. So this time around that is going up again, we would still try to maintain the 30% proposed increment,” he said.

Mr Amoah said the union is awaiting the report of a committee comprising representatives from the GPRTU, Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC)  and government, which is expected by Friday.

He said the report would guide a subsequent meeting with the Ministry, where stakeholders would determine whether to maintain, reduce or make any changes to the proposed fare adjustment.

“We are still waiting for the committee to submit their report, hopefully by Friday, so that the ministry will call us to a meeting to see if we still maintain or if we still agree on certain increments, or if it has to come down,” he said.

According to him, the latest fuel price increases have complicated the discussions, particularly as the union was not expecting another adjustment in fuel prices.

“We were not even expecting another fuel increase. We heard that today fuel is going up again. Slightly that has even, more than 10 percent; petrol and diesel are also going up. So it's something that is very hard,” he said.

He added that the final decision on transport fares would depend on the committee’s report and subsequent discussions between the transport operators and government.