Mozambique: Transporters return to operating in KaTembe
Rise in fuel prices triggers protests in Mozambique – DW
3:39 CAT | 22 Mar 2022
People walking in the streets of Nampula city on Monday as 'chapas' stopped activity. [Photo: Ikweli]
- A wave of passenger transport stoppages has hit Mozambique due to rising fuel prices. The president of the Nampula Road Transport Association says that the business is becoming unsustainable.
The announcement by Mozambican authorities of an increase in fuel prices in the country is causing a wave of stoppages in the activity of transporting people and goods. Carriers are also demanding an adjustment in the cost of transport.
This Monday (21-03) saw protests in the shape of a record number of transport stoppage in the cities of Nampula and Tete.
In Nampula, transporters promise to continue the strike until their claims are resolved.
In an interview with DW, Luís Vasconcelos, president of the Association of Road Transporters of Nampula (ASTRA), says that current fuel prices make transport activity unsustainable.
DW Africa: How does ASTRA react to current fuel prices in the country?
Luís Vasconcelos (LV): The transport situation in the country is unsustainable, as fuel prices are skyrocketing.
DW Africa: And there was a transport strike in Nampula. What happened?
LV: Since the first increase in fuel prices last year, the tariff for urban transport has not been changed.
It is true that at the ministry level it is said that transport is being subsidized. But not all urban passenger transporters are benefiting from this subsidy by way of a credit line. This line of credit is not bringing any benefit to transporters, as this line of credit is for transporters to be able to carry out activity and pay for those vehicles. So, this line of credit is not viable for transporters, it does not bring any benefit. On the contrary, it is more of a problem for transporters.
Read: Mozambique: Pemba “chapas” stop activities as fuel prices rise – Miramar report
DW Africa: In that case, is your point that the government needs to look at the transport sector with some sensitivity?
LV: It has to look at the transport sector with sensitivity. It [the government] is not helping the transporters at all! It is creating indebtedness, because that vehicle will transport at the same rate, which is not feasible for a normal haulier, who has his own vehicle.
DW Africa: And how does ASTRA look at this increase in fuel prices in the domestic market?
LV: We don’t agree with this deal, because we are paying, they say, because of Ukraine-Russia war, which has been going on for almost 30 days.
We know that the country has a reserve of fuel. Where is our country’s fuel reserve?
That fuel that was supplied before that war, why is that fuel increasing [in price] today? Why didn’t we wait to say that, now we are going to buy fuel at this price, because now there is this situation of the Ukraine war and we wait 30 days for the boat to leave, either from Russia or Ukraine to come to Mozambique. And that is not the way it is being done.
DW Africa: Is it a kind of opportunism?
LV: That’s what all the transporters think is happening, that this is opportunism!
DW Africa: As associates, have you been consulted by the authorities before the government announces new fuel price tables?
LV: We only heard that the prices were being raised through the media. And even in the media there is a contradiction. One says that, with the reserve we have here in the country, there will be no rise, and the next day we go to the gas stations and what was said is not the case – the price has already risen. And in no time were we called upon to discuss and prepare our associates to avoid what is happening today. Today it’s Nampula, yesterday it was Pemba, and we don’t know where this is going next.
READ: Mozambique: Moatize-Cateme ‘chapas’ withdraw service, demanding a 20-meticais price hike
Mozambique: Nampula wakes up to no ‘chapas’ due to fuel price hike – Miramar
Source: Deutsche Welle
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