Government denies plans to eliminate subsidized fuel for transporters

Minister Deligne Ascención, coordinator of the Transportation Cabinet, categorically denied this Wednesday the elimination of subsidized fuel assigned to transportation federations. This after members of the National Union of Transporters and Related (Unatrafin), staged a protest this Wednesday in front of the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant), demanding that the Government maintain fuel subsidies and avoid the increase of the fare to RD$90. Ascención said that at no time has the government, nor any of the responsible instances, contemplated or addressed the elimination of that compensation, which allows public transport users to pay an affordable fare. Through the so-called Gas Bonus, or direct fuel allocations, public passenger transport organizations receive these subsidies from the government, which helps to keep ticket prices unchanged. From the Transportation Cabinet, a call is made to the leaders of the drivers’ federations not to be carried away by information that does not correspond to the truth, and with which it is only sought to alter the climate of peace and security that the Dominican Republic is experiencing. “Categorically, we deny that information that has been maliciously echoed, and that has caused concern to some transporters, as pointed out by the coordinator of the Transportation Cabinet, Eng. Deligne Ascención.