The Government and taxi drivers agreed, in a meeting held on the 3rd, to increase the taxi fare to 200 kwanzas, against the current "race" price, set at 150 kwanzas, recalled the president of the cooperative, António Freitas.
To Lusa, the official said that, at the time, the authorities committed to making the tariff official by May 15th, when the deadline for withdrawing the fuel subsidy ends, and questioned the authorities' "silence".
"We agreed to adjust the price of the taxi fare to 200 kwanzas and then it was agreed that the State should comment, they gave us a moratorium of another 15 days, which ends today, as the taxi drivers put pressure to make it official", he said.
Freitas admitted that private taxi service operators, known as "blue and white", could be paralyzed if the authorities do not formalize, by Thursday, the new tariff.
"We will analyze, either we will have to stop or the State will speak out, or else it will continue to subsidize [the fuel] for taxi drivers", he said.
The association leader said he was concerned about the "silence of the Government", highlighting that the current fare speculation and the shortening of routes result from the non-officialization of the new fare.
"We assured at the meeting that, after the price became official, we would raise awareness among taxi drivers to stop speculation and shortening routes", he recalled.
The withdrawal of the state fuel subsidy for taxi drivers was initially scheduled for April 30, but the authorities decided to extend the deadline for another 15 days, which ends this Wednesday, he highlighted.
