Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has accelerated the petroleum storage facility construction process near the Rohini River bank in Rupandehi.

The construction of embankment at the Rohini rivulet, the border of Omsatiya and Rohini rural municipalities, was underway and 70 per cent construction of the embankment has been completed so far, said Engineer Hiramani Khanal.

Khanal said that the embankment construction activities have been forwarded at the Rohini river by assessing the flood situation of the last 50 years.

The Rohini river flows in the north and west of the land where the NOC is constructing the storage facility. A retaining wall has been constructed on the north side while a gabion wall towards west of the site.

The NOC is constructing the new storage facility on around 14 bighas of land purchased along the Parasi-Bhairahawa road section as the storage capacity of the Bhalbari depot is less and it is near human settlements.

The new storage facility will sustain petroleum demand of Lumbini Province for 20 days. The NOC has been constructing storage depots at different places of the country to increase its storage capacity of petroleum products.

Project Coordinator Pradeep Yadav explained that storage tanks are being constructed at the cost of Rs 3 billion. Three tanks having the storage capacity of 2,100 kilolitres diesel, two tanks having the capacity to store 1,600 kilolitres of petrol, and three tanks having capacity to store 70 kilolitres of kerosene will be constructed.

After the construction of the new storage facility, the Bhalbari depot will be shifted to the banks of the Rohini rivulet. Yadav shared that the project design would be completed within mid-October. Kathmandu University is designing the project. The foundation stone of the project will be laid in November and a target has been set to complete the construction within 2083 BS.