China positive towards petroleum supply
Chinese ambassador to Nepal Zhen Xianglin has said that his government is positive towards supplying petroleum products.
In his interaction with a delegation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) led by its president Surendra Bir Malakar, the Chinese envoy informed that Nepal government has made a proposal for petroleum supplies to which China was positive.
Recently, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was reported to have requested Chinese government to supply petroleum products to Nepal as the latter was facing continuous disruption of fuel supplies coming from India due to various strikes. PM Koirala made this proposal during his meeting with the Chinese ambassador indicating that Nepal needed alternative supply route for the essential fuel.
During the interaction with NCC representatives, ambassador Xianglin said that China could provide duty free access to Nepali products. He also informed that the Air China airlines, which launched its operation to Kathmandu from February, will operate daily flights from June/July.
Petro Supply Disruption
Meanwhile, the normal petroleum supplies have once again been disrupted after Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) cut down its supply volume by 40 percent in a bid to pressure the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to pay outstanding dues.
According to NOC spokesperson Ichha Bikram Thapa, given high volume of losses, the corporation was unable to maintain enough stock. He said that from Friday, the IOC has cut down the volume of supplies from 2000 kilolitres to 1200 kilolitres a day from Raxaul depot. Around 80 percent of fuel is imported from Raxaul point.
Because of this supply cut down, petrol pumps in the capital city have run out of fuel. nepalnews.com sd May 10 07
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