The president of the West Panama Provincial Chamber of Transportation, Jorge Dimas, mentioned that despite the fact that he was at the transportation table meeting, he did not sign the agreement because he is due to the bases in his area, so he called an extraordinary assembly for this Friday at 10:00 am
Precisely, carriers in that sector expressed their disagreement with the decisions taken because a specific point was not reached on the issue of freezing fuel or on the adjustment of rates.
“We are one of the few routes that have a minimum rate of 30 cents. The subsidy does not solve the carrier’s problem, that would be enough for us for a day or a day and a half of work,” said Jorge Velasco, president of the internal routes of that sector.
Velasco specified that a “coaster” can consume approximately 70 dollars a day, while the so-called “tin buses” more than 100 dollars.
For his part, Gilberto Atencio, another transportation leader, indicated that not only Western Panama disagrees; he assured that those who were sent to the table did not respect what had been entrusted to them.
“A mandate was given to the leadership and it was not fulfilled,” he said.
According to Atencio, there were people at the negotiating table who were both judge and party, which made good management impossible.
For his part, the director of the Land Transit and Transportation Authority (ATTT), Carlos Ordoñez, mentioned that the carriers are represented by Canatra and maintained that the agreement was the product of several approaches.
“We can’t talk about freezing because that money we have is used for other subsidies,” Ordoñez said.
Speaking specifically about one of them, he said that gas is subsidized and that its price increase would affect more people.
On the other hand, he stated that it would not be possible to talk about an increase in rates either, because that would be a direct impact on users.
It should be noted that on March 30 the carriers reached an agreement with the Government, in which, among other things, an $8 million subsidy was offered to the first sector to combat the increase in fuel.
Given the complaints of some carriers, who indicate that 8 million dollars are not enough for the approximately 75,000 carriers that there are, he stated that they are going to review that list because not all of them meet the requirements.
