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Compensation of $ 50 per taxi offers Government of Ecuador
Posted On 20 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
A compensation of $ 50 per automotive unit delivered to the legal taxi drivers that appear in the lists of the guilds would be one of the alternatives for the compensation that will be applied to urban transport, after the increase in extra gasoline and ecopais, announced by the Government last Tuesday.
Yesterday, senior government representatives met with the public transport leaders to explain the subsidy reduction and propose a compensation mechanism for taxi drivers and other vehicles that use this fuel.
The Minister of Government Santiago Cuesta said that the union has been asked to submit a list of all legal taxi drivers to receive monthly and in their accounts a compensation that would be around $ 50, depending on the displacement, travel and capacity.
The Finance Minister, Richard Martinez, explained in an interview yesterday, that the Government plans that the measure does not affect either trucks that transport food from the rural area or urban transport with taxis.
For this, he said that they will resort to the technological and information tools that exist. He explained that the National Transit Agency (ANT) and the Internal Revenue Service (SRI) have the registration of taxis and trucks of the cooperatives duly regularized. Then they would be compensated.
Abel Gómez, president of the National Federation of Cooperatives of Public Transport of Passengers of Ecuador (Fenacotip), said that they await the executive decree, ratified that the diesel for public and commercial transport will fortunately not increase.
Likewise, this sector will request a tariff review because six years ago there have been no increases, he added.
In as much, Jorge Calderón, president of the Federation of Taxis of Ecuador, assured that in hours of the afternoon they were reunited with the representatives of the Government to reach an agreement. The director of the National Transit Agency (ANT), Álvaro Guzmán, also participated in the meeting.
On the other hand, the mechanisms to avoid the increase of diesel for certain sectors are also being outlined.
Cuesta explained yesterday that the diesel that gas stations sell to school transport, passengers, cargo, will maintain the price currently in force and the diesel that will be increased at international prices is industrial diesel.
Minister Martínez said that the import of industrial diesel is liberalized, but it is expected to provide compensation to the fishing and aquaculture sector, so as not to affect its competitiveness.
He explained that the import of diesel is liberalized for private importers to participate. And generally when there are these subsidies there are illicit markets, there are people who use it incorrectly. With this measure this would be avoided.
In the last extended cabinet of the year, President Lenin Moreno ratified that the resources that will be raised with the reduction of this subsidy will be destined to protection of dollarization, retirees, social security and education.
Meanwhile, the National Citizens Assembly will hold a march today at 17:00 from El Arbolito Park to the Plaza Grande, in rejection of the reduction of subsidies, the proforma, labor flexibilization, among other issues. (I)
