Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, Raj Kishore Yadav, today inspected the site of the Siliguri Petroleum Pipeline Project and also the site for the storage facility in the eastern region of Nepal.
Nepal Oil Corporation has completed the primary engineering survey for the construction of the proposed cross-border petroleum pipeline between Nepal and India. After inspecting the site for the storage facility, Minister Yadav said construction of the fuel pipeline and storage facility will be a pride project for the eastern region of the country.
Minister Yadav mentioned that efforts are being made to hold talks with the Indian government as early as possible regarding the construction of the pipeline. He mentioned the project will be built under the government-to-government modality.
The proposed 50-kilometre petroleum pipeline will extend from the depot of Indian Oil Corporation in Siliguri to Charali in Nepal.
The minister added that once fuel starts getting transported through the pipeline then all malpractices that used to occur in the past will be controlled. He mentioned that previously there used to be grievances of fuel being stolen from the tankers itself which will come to an end.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of Nepal Oil Corporation, Surendra Paudel, said that the project will be completed within two years of the construction work being started. He informed the project is being constructed at a cost of over seven billion Indian rupees.
Paudel also stated that the storage facility will be built on 23 bighas of the corporation’s land in Mechinagar Municipality-13. The facility will be able to store 40 million kilolitres of fuel which will be sufficient to meet the fuel demand of Province 1 for 90 days, he added.
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