Lawmakers to NOC: Mix ethanol in gasoline to solve its shortage
Lawmakers have directed the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to mix ethanol in petroleum products so as to solve its shortage.
They have also cautioned NOC for not complying with the government's direction on the same matter.
"NOC has not cared to do the works that can be done without any considerable technical difficulties," said UML chief whip Prashuram Meghi Gurung during the Industrial Relation Committee meeting of the parliament Tuesday, adding, "rather than putting all blame on others, NOC should immediately start its work by identifying its priorities."
The government had four years ago established an Ethanol Mixing Plant and directed NOC to lessen the shortage of petroleum products.
CPN-Maoist chief whip Janardhan Sharma (Prabhakar) expressed his outrage saying that the management's incompetence and failure to deal with the matter properly has only given more reasons to believe that maybe privatization is the answer for this ailing corporation.
The market price for a liter of ethanol is Rs 40 and up to 20 percent of it can be mixed in the petroleum products. NOC officials, however, say that it has been unable start the process of mixing ethanol in petrol due to the political instability that has caused regular change in the corporation's top level.
Puroshottam Ojha, secretary at the Ministry of Industries, Commerce and Supplies, opined that the project must be implemented only after an effective mechanism is formed to check that nothing else other than ethanol is mixed in the petroleum products.
Meanwhile, the government is planning to issue bonds to raise funds to pay off the dues it owes to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of petroleum products to Nepal, with the view to solve the long-running shortage of gasoline in the market.
According to Minister for Industries, Commerce and Supplies Shyam Sundar Gupta, the Finance Ministry on Monday agreed to issue bonds worth Rs 3 billion to pay for the country's oil losses. He said that it will be forwarded to the council of minister on Wednesday for its decision.
"We owe about Rs 2.34 billion to the IOC. We will settle the dues as soon as we get the money," Minister Gupta said.
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Speaking at a programme, he said that reduction of supply of petroleum products to Nepal by IOC had caused the fuel crisis to prolong. He further said that the demand for petroleum products has shot up by 40 percent, whereas the NOC has not even been able to maintain its normal level of imports because of mounting losses and having to divert funds to clear past dues. nepalnews.com ag Dec 19 07
