Government prepares a bill to end the monopoly of NOC

The cabinet, on Friday, endorsed a draft bill on transaction of petroleum products, which is aimed at ending the monopoly of state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) in the sales and distribution of oil products.

The draft bill "Petroleum Products Transaction Act 2063" will now be presented at the House of Representatives for final approval and enactment.

Once the parliament gives its seal of approval on the bill, the private companies would be able to import and sell/distribute petroleum products in the country. It is expected that the entry of private players would help in increasing internal competition, efficiency and the prices would then be fixed on the basis of international market and domestic competition.

At present, NOC has the monopoly in the import of petroleum products. Even in domestic sales and distributions, private dealers operate under the NOC.

The draft bill has several provisions to regulate the petroleum sector. It proposes forming a powerful and autonomous 'Petroleum Board' which will be authorized to monitor and inspect the market. The board will be authorized to evaluate applications from private companies to operate in this sector. It will also have a role in fixing prices. The board will have representatives from among independent experts, consumers and company representatives. Its chief will be appointed as per the joint recommendation of Chief Secretary; Finance Secretary; and Industry, Commerce and Supplies Secretary. Till now, cabinet has been fixing the prices of petroleum products.

Likewise, it has also proposed a number of stringent conditions to allow any private company to operate in this area in order to filter out incompetent players. nepalnews.com sd Oct 21 06