News and Events

Hike in Transport Fares Worries Commuters
Transport Analyst Urges Gov't, Others for Swift Action
Edwin M. Fayia, III, Daily Observer
April 24, 2009

MONROVIA,According to several nationwide transport fare statistics, transport fares continue to be increased by commercial drivers due to what they refer to as high cost of spare parts and imported vehicles in Liberia.

As a result of this unbearable situation, commuters and business entities consequently continue to suffer the uncontrollable upsurge in transport fares across the nation.
In a recent interview with the Daily Observer, many commuters and business entities expressed grave concern about the uncontrollable hike in transport fares across the country.

As a result of the hike in transport fares, several commuters in a Daily Observer interview also intimated: “We are indeed worried and frustrated to an extent that our daily activities continue to be hindered and obstructed in the country.”

Several business women and commuters from rural Liberia recently told the Daily Observer that there were sufficient produce and vegetables in rural Liberia but owing to the uncontrollable escalation in transport fares, the goods remained stockpiled.
In Monrovia, according to the commuters, on many occasions sporadic confrontation continued to be ensued among them and the commercial drivers while en route to and from Central Monrovia every day.

One rural commuter, Davidson K. Mulbah, noted that all profit margins on their produce remained in the hands of the commercial drivers owing to the huge transport fares in recent months in the country.

Mr. Mulbah further pointed out that several commercial drivers had told him that many of their vehicle spare parts had been very expensive to an extent that the situation was becoming unbearable in the country.

He urged the relevant agencies of the Liberian Government to research and evaluate the activities of spare part importers in order to ascertain the veracity.
When the Daily Observer contacted some spare parts importers, they confirmed the price hike in spare parts but blamed the situation on alleged huge import taxes instituted by the Liberian Government.

Spare parts dealer Benson H. Konateh, 67, noted that they were constrained to increase the prices of the spare parts owing to the alleged huge taxes they paid to the Liberian Government over the years in Liberia.

Konateh stressed that once the Liberian Government sufficiently reduced the taxes, the spare parts dealers would have no other option but to adjust the prices in the best interest of ordinary Liberians across the nation.

He also underscored the need for the Liberian Government to work with the major importers of used cars and spare parts in order to find a workable and realistic legal framework on the vital economic sector of the country.

When the Daily Observer contacted a renowned transport analyst in Monrovia to comment on the spare parts dealers and commuters' claims, Mr. Washington B. Gonkolleh, 56, pointed out that the situation must be handled around a negotiation table.
Gonkolleh further noted that the Liberian Government and all the major spare parts and used car importers must sit together and work out some formula that would be in the interest of the commuters and business entities in Liberia.

He also urged the commuters and commercial drivers to stop the fussing and channel all their grievances through the relevant agencies of the Liberian Government for redress in order to avoid chaos in Monrovia and around the country.

Gonkolleh also stressed the need for the Liberian Government and partners in the transport sector to take swift action that would address the current hike in transport fares across the nation.

Meanwhile, commuters, rural business entities, farmers and other Liberians have sounded an earnest appeal to the Ministries of Transport, Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Road Transport Union of Liberia (FRTUL) to rescue them from the current hike in transport fares in Liberia.