Gas price watch
No stop sign for higher bus fares - Luncheon
Stabroek News
May 20, 2004
Umbrella party? Employees of the Georgetown Magistrate's Court stand across the street from the building yesterday after police received information by way of a telephone call that two bombs had been planted in the Chief Magistrate's courtroom. The build
With the gas price now touching $630 per gallon the government yesterday said it could not unilaterally reduce the consumption tax on fuel but neither would it take any deliberate action to stop minibus operators from increasing fares.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday that it was not as easy as some may think for the government to reduce the consumption tax. He said there were some pre-conditions which had to be followed including consulting with stakeholders in the industry.
But President of the Guy-ana Petrol Station Dealers Association, (GPSDA) Steve Chung feels the government is trying to fool the nation, noting that the higher the price for fuel on the market the more revenue the government would make.
The hardship continued yesterday for East Bank commuters as minibus operators kept up their strike. Operators along the East Coast were mulling whether they should join in, while in the other zones some operators have simply raised fares despite commuter complaints.
Luncheon said the focus of the government is on the application of tax policy initiatives with regard to fuel. According to him, agreement on the implementation of all aspects of that initiative by both public and private sectors wholesale/retail interests is still being pursued by the government.
When asked what measures government would take to prevent operators from increasing their fares, he said the government had never taken coercive measures in that regard over the years and would continue on the same path.
But when told that there was no price controlling system in the country, Luncheon said over the years, public transportation has not been operating unregulated. Some minibus drivers complained to this newspaper yesterday that traffic officers have been harassing them over increased fares. One man told this newspaper that he and several other operators were actually detained.
Tyres slashed
A release from the Police Public Relations Office said the police are investigating a report where a minibus driver who refused to join in the strike with other operators on the East Bank had one of his tyres slashed. According to the police, the minibus operator who plies the Georgetown/Timehri route was stopped by striking operators during the morning at Land of Canaan and coerced to join the strike. The operator reportedly refused and subsequently discovered his tyres slashed.
Public Relations Consultant of the Ministry of Public Works, Ajay Baksh has since made it clear that speedboat operators are not allowed to increase their fares unless approved by the Maritime Administration. Baksh said from the best of his knowledge no request for fare increases had been made and as such any fare increase would be illegal.
A meeting by the Essequibo Minibus and Hire Car Association yesterday ratified fare increases. They decided that the fare from Anna Regina to Charity has moved from $200-$260, Anna Regina to Supenaam $400-$500 and Charity to Supenaam $600-$700.
As regards speedboats, the fare from Supenaam has now moved from $700-$900.
Minibuses working in the Georgetown/Guyhoc park route have begun charging $60 for short drops. The previous price was $40. According to one commuter, one gallon of gas would enable a minibus to travel 20-30 miles which could easily make two round trips from Georgetown to Guyhoc. The commuter argued that at the end of day the operator would make a profit because most of them would overload their vehicles.
Chung told this newspaper that in January, wholesale prices for gasoline and diesel were $450 and $360 respectively. At that time gas was being sold at retail prices ranging from $480-$490, while diesel was going at $390-$398.
By May, according to Chung, wholesale price for gas has risen from $450-$591, while diesel moved from $360-$460.
As a consequence, Chung said dealers were forced to increase their gas price which is now ranging from $618-$635. Chung observed that there was no indication that the acquisition cost would be reduced any time soon and as such something had to be done to help consumers. He said with regard to petrol dealers there was nothing they could do except raise prices. According to him, the high prices for fuel were not only affecting the motoring public but also the profitability of petrol dealers.
He argued that it was time government changed the profit mark-up for dealers from the dollar figure to a percentage.
Meanwhile, with oil still over US$40 a barrel, major importing nations are boosting pressure on the Organi-sation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to put more oil on the market for fear that high prices may curtail global economic growth. A report out of London quoted European Union's Energy Commis-sioner, Loyola Palacio as saying, "There is an urgent need for an increase in the amount of oil being produced...If it does not come about, we will clearly see that OPEC is not interested in oil price stability."
However, President of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) Ali Rodriguez, who who served as Venezuela's energy minister and as OPEC's secretary general before taking the helm of PDVSA responded yesterday that oil speculation, the war in Iraq and low US refinery capacity were to blame for high oil prices and not a shortage of crude.
He said an output increase would not necessarily bring prices down and could do more harm than good.