A spike in fuel prices has led to increase in taxi and marshrutka fares in the northern Sughd province.
Thus, the fuel price hike has led to increase in fare for marshrutka (a form of public transportation such as share taxi, which originated in the Soviet Union and is still present in the CIS nations) in Khujand, the capital of the Sughd province, from 1.30 somonis to 1.50 somonis.
Murod Qodirov, an official with the Sughd State Unitary Enterprise (SUE) Road Transport and Logistics Services, says a sudden spike in fuel prices has had ripple effect on work of local drivers.
According to him, 90 percent of the province’s share taxi minibuses use diesel oil as fuel and 10 other percent of them use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel that ultimately affected the work of public transportation companies in the area.
“The price of one liter of LNG in the province has risen from 3.00 somonis to 4.50 somonis (50-percent increase – Asia-Plus) and the price of one liter of diesel oil in Sughd has risen from 5.80 somonis to 8.00 somonis (about 35-percent increase – Asia-Plus), and therefore, we were forced to raise marshrutka fare for 1.30 somonis to 1.50 somonis,” Qodirov said.
The fuel price hike has also led to increase in tax fares in northern Tajikistan.
Buses in the Sughd province use diesel oil as fuel, and therefore, a sudden spike in diesel oil prices will lead to increase in bus fares in the area.
