The Bangladesh Covered Van-Truck-Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association has expressed deep concern over the abnormal increase in fuel prices, warning that it will severely impact goods transport costs, production, and supply chain systems across the country.
In a statement issued on Monday, the organisation’s General Secretary Chowdhury Zafar Ahmed demanded an immediate review of current fuel oil prices.
The statement highlighted that fuel costs constitute a major portion of operational expenses for trucks, covered vans, and prime movers.
Consequently, any rise in fuel prices directly inflates goods transport costs, pushing up production, supply, and marketing expenses, which will ultimately place a heavy financial burden on general consumers.
Transport owners expressed fear that higher transport costs could lead to price hikes for essential commodities and various other goods, posing a risk of further increasing the public’s living expenses.
Under these circumstances, the organisation urged the government to reconsider fuel prices and hold an urgent meeting with transport owners to set rational transport fares.
They also called for a reduction in the burden of existing taxes, fees, and other expenses imposed on the transport sector.
Additionally, the statement called for effective measures to prevent irrational price hikes in the market.
It emphasised that fuel price determination should not consider calculations of the energy sector alone, but must also evaluate the overall impact on goods transport, industry and trade, market prices, and the living costs of ordinary people.
The association expressed expectation that the government would take swift and effective action in the interest of the national economy and public to keep the country’s goods transport system operational and stable.
