Transport Ministry in crunch meeting with towing companies

The Transport Ministry will be in a crunch meeting with all towing companies in the country this afternoon Thursday September 7, 2017, StarrFMonline.com has gathered.

The meeting is coming on the back of government’s decision to scrap the controversial mandatory levy until the law is reviewed—a move the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) lauded as apt.

In a statement announcing the cancelation of the policy originally scheduled to have started in July, government said it “follows extensive consultation between the minister for transport and stakeholders in the transport sector.”

According to the statement signed by the Minister of Transport Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the government will review parts of the laws on the policy to achieve the following: “Removal from the law the concept of a mandatory towing levy on all owners and persons in charge of motor vehicles and trailers.”

Meanwhile the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers is to make input into review of controversial mandatory towing levy.

“We are going to [diversify the implementation of the policy] looking at who will be the operatives of the towing companies. Already we saw that we have a lot towing vehicles, individual groups, companies and for us to clear all of them redundant and give it to one company we fell that was not healthy and that was not fair,” said the Vice chairman of COPEC.

He continued, “Every vehicle owner should be able to get himself identified with a towing company and have you own arrangement as to what happens and then we have a better law on our roads to say that if your vehicle breaks down within 3 hours you must get it off the road, if not government will have to come and tow and they will be penalty there for you to pay.”