Morocco's transportation professionals receive 9th round of aid while maintaining calls for capped prices

In an attempt to lessen the effects of high fuel costs, transportation professionals on Thursday received the ninth batch of subsidies allocated by the government for the sector.

A number of taxi industry professionals were still having issues with competing platforms, which prevented them from receiving subsidy payments, at a time when trade syndicate sources claimed that professionals in the freight transport sector had received such payments.

The National Union of Road Transport Professionals’ national general secretary, Mounir Benazouz, confirmed that the professionals received the latest round of support yesterday; nevertheless, they are unsure of how far the government would carry out this policy.

In a statement to Hespress, he said that the unions wanted to cap fuel costs, which confirms that the subsidy should stay regular until gas prices are abiding by this suggestion

It’s noteworthy that fuel prices have recently seen a minor reduction.

In response to Hespress AR’s question regarding the direction of the sectoral dialogue, Benazouz discussed the discontinuation of triangular coordination and his request to the Ministry in charge of the sector to focus on priorities, the most crucial of which are those related to overloading because they pose a risk to the profession, professionals, and road users, as well as the manifestations of unfair competition that follow.

The trade union activist also emphasized how companies and clients continue to put professionals in danger, forcing them to break the law, as he called for new laws.

Almost 80% of taxi professionals have profited from the most recent subsidies, according to Mohamed Fadi, deputy national editor of the National Syndicate of the Taxi Sector, while the remaining proportion is still waiting for a resolution to the earlier issues.

He indicated that a lot of professionals met all the requirements, but they did not receive support payments, including those with conventional contracts. He added that he was one of those who did not receive the money.

On Tuesday, March 21, taxi professionals plan to stage a protest in Rabat to call for an end to the unresolved problems.

In order to end the chaos and confusion in managing the industry, taxi drivers are urging for the quick enactment of legislation regulating the profession in accordance with it while considering their interests.

This legislation should also include a requirement to temporarily eliminate the value-added tax and the internal consumption fee, which together account for about 40% of the cost of gasoline.