The 69-km-long Motihari Amlekhgunj cross-border oil pipeline between India and Nepal is all set to be extended to Kathmandu. For now, a feasibility study for a 62 km extension to Chitwan in Nepal has been completed. 

According to a report in The Kathmandu Post, the extension to Chitwan would cost around $34 million. The existing pipeline was operationalized one and a half years ago and was built by Indian grant assistance. 

The pipeline helped the Nepali government to save around $12 million in transportation costs. The proposed extension would further save these charges. 

“The pipeline also helps in reducing petroleum leakage, theft, and adulteration,” a Nepali official was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. Currently, Nepal spends around $52 million annually on the transportation of fuels from tankers. 

Nepal Oil Corporation has already started discussions with Nepal’s Ministry of Industries, Commerce, supply for construction, and finance modalities of the project, said Bhitmani Upadhyay, the spokesperson of Nepal Oil Corporation. 

The entire project, including the construction of supporting infrastructure, would cost around $119 million. Upadhyay said the corporation doesn’t have the technical capabilities to build the pipeline on its own, may require to invite an experienced company through an open tender.  

Another plan is to grant the tender to the same company that has built the existing pipeline. In the last five years, the consumption of gasoline in the Himalayan nation has increased by 100 percent, and estimated to grow by 10 percent annually.