Transport: Agreement between ELTON and AFTU

ELTON Oil Company signed a partnership agreement with the Association for the financing of urban transport professionals (AFTU) on Monday in Dakar, to help its members pay less for fuel. A card called “Oasis Andando” has been developed under the partnership, to allow 1,300 minibuses operated by AFTU to save 10 CFA francs on every litre of fuel bought at Elton service stations. Thanks to the agreement, the Transporters' Savings and Credit Mutual (MECTRANS) will save 200 million CFA francs a year, according to AFTU's president, Mbaye Amar. “We use 40 litres per vehicle per day,” said Mr Amar. On top of the savings it generates, the agreement between AFTU — which brings together private operators — and the petroleum company will allow 880 transport operators who are members of the association to benefit from “transparent, controlled management of fuel purchasing”, thanks to a computer system used to monitor supplies. According to Cheikh Sadibou Diop, chairman of ELTON's board, the system will support “better control of fuel costs” for transport operators. The measure will have a positive impact on AFTU's bus operations, he added. Cheikh Oumar, representing the Dakar Urban Transport Executive Council (CETUD) at the signing ceremony, praised the partnership, saying it helps “professionalise the transport sector”. Ndongo Fall, president of MECTRANS, welcomed “this technological step forward”. Thanks to ELTON Oil Company's partnership with AFTU, he said, minibus drivers will stop “buying poor-quality fuel on the cheap”. Lamine Traoré of the company Sensoft, which developed the “Oasis Andando” card, says the computer system is managed “autonomously” by the economic interest groups (GIEs) formed by the private transport operators. The system ensures “complete transparency of transactions and flexibility in topping up credit and purchasing at the service station”, he said.