Africa-Press – Cape verde. The special rates that exempt babies and benefit children, the elderly, the disabled, students, sports teams and authorities, come into force from February 1st in the country, according to a Government order.
Speaking to the press this morning, the national director of Maritime Policy, Anísio Évora, assured that the update aims to guarantee the improvement of the cargo and passenger transport service at national level, thus promoting the unification of the market.
“Therefore, children up to 2 years old, authorities and agents of authorities are exempt from payment, with free movement and benefit from a 50% discount for children between 3 and 12 years old, registered in the Single Social Registry, in groups I and II, and people over the age of 65, registered in the same register, in groups I, II and III”, assured Anísio Évora to the press.
Also, according to the document, competing sports teams benefit from a 20% discount.
In August last year, the Government updated cargo transport prices and mentioned the base tariff per cubic meter of cargo in three tiers or distances in miles.
According to the director of Maritime Policy, there were several loopholes in terms of setting the final price to be paid by the user, and operators exploited these loopholes.
“Several additional costs without legal support were added to the base tariff, reaching three times the amount payable by the user. As an example, in the distance category (0-50 miles), which includes the São Vicente-Santo Antão, São Vicente-São Nicolau, Fogo-Brava and Santiago/Maio lines, the final amount to be paid by the user resulted from the sum from the base tariff of 935 escudos per cubic meter to the agency”, highlighted Anísio Évora, who also adds the costs of printed materials and economic regulation fees, among other fees.
Thus, it made a grand total of 2,987$00/cubic meter, that is, “three times the base rate of 935$00/cubic meter”.
“There was a disaggregation of tiers or distances in miles, which went from three to eight tiers, allowing better harmonization of tariffs between categories and tiers depending on distances, in other words, this aspect clarified, greater distance, higher price, bringing benefits to the consumer Final. In this case, care was also taken to limit the maximum increase ceiling so that the global tariff update did not exceed the average value stipulated for general cargo of around 18%”, concluded Anísio Évora.
In April 2023, the Government updated the inter-island passenger transport tariff, with a commitment to update the tariffs applied to cargo transport, as the previous one had taken place 16 years ago.
This applied table aims to “bring more transparency in the amount to be paid by the user” and public service transport “is obliged” to follow the order that comes into force from February 1st.
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