The Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) says it plans to open talks with government over the proposed 5.7 per cent increment in prices of petrol and diesel.

The 2021 budget introduced a new 10 pesewa Sanitation and Pollution Levy as well as a 20 pesewa increase in the price of petrol and diesel.

To ease the burden though, government also announced the suspension of payments of the vehicle income tax for the third and fourth quarters of 2021 for trotros and taxis.

National General Secretary of the GPRTU, Godfred Abulbiri told JoyNews that his union welcome the incentive.

“Looking at the package for drivers, we from GPRTU can confidently say that it will help us a lot,” he said.

He says they will however attempt a dialogue with government over the increase in the price of petrol and diesel.

“When you are lobbying, or making a request to government for some cushioning over some of these difficulties, if you have some of these packages, you have to first appreciate it and still ask for more.

“So we are making a request, it is not everything that you will get, with the increment on the fuel, it is something we have a procedure that will enable us to approach the Ministry and have dialogue on that,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says that government is open to engaging the transport union.

“We have in all humility made the point that we understand that we are in a difficult place as a country and we need to walk a fine line between raising revenues and not overburdening the people.

“We appreciate the feedback from GPRTU but we are also mindful of the fact that when it comes to the petroleum adjustment, it is not for public transport only, so you are getting a broader bay that is contributing and you can also provide an incentive to the smaller bay that has been significantly hit by the pandemic,” he said.