KATHMANDU, Dec 23: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has finalized the route for laying pipes for the proposed Jhapa-Siliguri petroleum pipeline project.

The pipeline meant for importing fossil fuels from the depot of Indian Oil Corporation will be laid at the side of the East-west Highway and Mechi Highway that connects Charali of Jhapa to Nepal-India border. According to the state-owned oil monopoly, a joint study team of NOC and Indian Oil Corporation--the sole seller of petroleum products to Nepal--has finalised the route to lay down the petroleum pipeline.

Coordinator of the Joint Study Team Birendra Kumar Goit said they have completed preliminary survey of the proposed project. Goit said the task force has also finalised layout of the storage tank to be constructed in Charali to stock petroleum products imported through the pipeline. According to him, they will now start preparing detailed project reports to give final shape to the proposed project.

Of 50 km long pipeline, 35 km falls on the Indian side of the border and the remaining 15 km stretch lies on Nepali side of the border. The project will be constructed in the modality similar to that of the Amlekhgunj-Motihari pipeline in 16 months from the date of the commencement of actual construction work.

NOC has planned to construct storage tanks with the capacity to stock 41,650 kiloliters of petroleum products in Charali. These will include the storage of 12,000 kl of petrol, 28,000 diesel, 400 kl of kerosene and 1,200 kl of aviation turbine fuel . The amount is estimated to meet a 90-day demand of fuel in Province 1.

Meanwhile, NOC is importing petrol from the cross-border Amlekhgunj-Motihari pipeline facility. In the past 15 months of the pipeline construction, the corporation has been importing only diesel by using the infrastructure.

According to NOC, it will start importing petroleum products once the Indian supplier completes construction of a vertical tank in its Motihari-based depot.