Vice President of the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association, Vasco Bastian spoke with ZNS News on Thursday about the possibility of gas stations shutting down due to stalled negotiations with the government for a higher profit margin. The Association has been in negotiations with the government for more than two years.
Bastian said some dealers have been agitating for a shut down. “If they force my hand in that regard, as a member of the association, I might have to oblige with them but I am not a proponent or supporter of shutting down gas stations. I think its not a good thing to do. I think its not in good faith for dealers as well as for the country as a whole and I am pro country. After trying to negotiating with the government for the last 30 months which is basically two years and 6 months and they feel that the government is stalling and the government is not being receptive to their demands of a margin increase which is just $0.25. And so 99% of the dealers are up in arms,” he said.
Gas retailers currently earn $0.54 per gallon of fuel. Bastian said the association met with government officials nearly three years ago and presented them with gasoline profit sharing numbers for the government, wholesalers and retailers. He said, “the government was very receptive. We kind of agree to disagree on a certain figure and then we adjusted our figure from the $0.30 we originally demanded to $0.25. We want to change the margin increase from a fixed margin of $0.54 to a percentage based.”
According to Bastian members of his association are calling for his resignation because of his “too nice and accommodating” negotiations with the government. “I am just being professional and being descent about the whole issue as the spokesperson for this industry. This is all voluntary. I don’t get paid for this, I don’t get paid for this at all. If they want my head and they want me to resign as Vice President of the Bahamas Petroleum Dealers Association I’m prepared to do so.”
Bastian says he is trying to be a voice of reason in the matter.
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