(ERGO) – Abdirahman Mumin Garad abandoned his tuk-tuk taxi in April due to the steep rise in fuel prices and resumed work on 10 August after discovering a new fuel additive that boosts mileage.
He is back to earning $22 a day driving in Beledweyne town, in Somalia’s Hiran region, and takes home about $7 after paying for fuel and the tuk-tuk rental.
“The fuel I would use in a day now lasts me two days,” he explained.
Previously, when a litre of petrol shot up in price from $0.6 to $1.5, many drivers were pushed out of business.
“It had a huge impact on me, the customers aren’t willing to accept higher fares, and without raising the fares we would only be working to pay for fuel. We couldn’t save anything. But things have changed now,” said Abdirahman.
He has been using this new fuel additive for two weeks and already saved $100 that he will use to pay off his debts. When he quit driving, he found work on building sites but only made $7-8 from those jobs. He had to take $357 worth of food on credit from local stores to support the family.
Now Abdirahman has enrolled five of his nine children in school paying $50 monthly fees.
The manager of Kabe Basin Energy Centre, Nur Fidow Hidigo, said they introduced the fuel additive product to Beledweyne to address the mounting fuel crisis faced by hundreds of youth working in the transport sector.
He said for $2, you buy 10 ml of the additive to add to 10 litres of fuel and achieve double the mileage. “We hope that this will be beneficial for the people,” he noted.
