Addis Ababa, July 13 (UNI) The soaring price of fuel is impacting transportation service in Ad- dis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital where commuters are seen waiting for hours before they could get rides.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration re- recently increased the price of gasoline by 30 percent to 47.83 birrs ($0.92) per liter and hiked the price of one liter of diesel by 38 percent to 49.02 birrs, Xinhua news agency reported.
Commuters who spoke to Xinhua news agency said they had to wait for hours for taxis and pay higher fares despite the government’s fuel subsidies for commercial transport providers. “There is a critical transportation problem and we had to queue for long hours as there are fewer taxis. This is due to the fuel price hike,” said Lidya Endeshaw.
Endeshaw added that the taxi fare increment that followed the fuel price hike is in particular affecting low-income people. Tewodros Meshesha, a taxi driver in Addis Ababa, on his part said amid the latest fuel price hike, the number of vehicles on the road sig- nificantly decreased.
He argued that taxi drivers were not in- formed well about the government’s new fuel subsidy scheme and they are purchasing fuel at the same price as ordinary private vehicle owners, causing them to eventually charge higher fares due to their rising fuel expenses.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Transport and Logistics recently said it has introduced a Fuel Subsidy Beneficiary scheme for commercial transport providers so that they can serve commuters at reduced transportation costs.
Abdulber Shemesu, an official from the Ethiopia- Ministry of Transport and Logistics, said that the subsidy is part of the government’s efforts to relieve commuters from the impact of the latest fuel price hike and increasing cost of living.
