Fuel supply worsens, over 50pc vehicles remain off road

Fuel supply worsens, over 50pc vehicles remain off road
ekantipur, 16-Jul-08

The number of four-wheelers plying the capital's roads was reduced to less than half Wednesday as the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) sharply cut supplies amid a three-quarter drop in imports due to the lack of funds.

The cutback left commuters stranded at different corners of the Kathmandu Valley while many packed into the few operating buses and three-wheelers (tempos).

The NOC said it distributed 72,000 liters of petrol dividing the stock equally between private and institutional retailers. The quantity is a mere 40 percent of the normal daily requirement.

Likewise, the cash-strapped state-owned petroleum importer distributed 84,000 liters of diesel, which is less than one-third of the valley's daily requirement.

“The situation is very bad. We cannot distribute even half of the required amount of fuel,” said a senior NOC official, preferring not to be named. “Imports from India have gone down to a quarter of what we consume in a day, and we neither have the funds nor anyone to turn to for money to increase imports,” he told the Post.

Sharad Bhandary, general secretary of the Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association, said that only nine private dealers received petrol on the day. “Each received a maximum of 4,000 liters, and that's only enough to create anger and quarrels among consumers rather than satisfying the need,” he said.

Bhandary added that the corporation had not distributed even a drop of fuel to private dealers from Friday to Monday. On Tuesday, it had delivered 1,800 liters to the retailers.

“With that amount of fuel, we became confused over how to distribute it and manage the crowd,” he stated.

NOC officials, moreover, added that the situation could remain bad through this week as it would need a few more days to arrange loans from domestic financial institutions. “A couple of banks have agreed to provide fresh loans. But it will take about a week before we actually get the cash, as they are just closed of their books of accounts on Tuesday,” he said.

He informed the Post that the corporation has sought additional financial support of Rs 1.5 billion from the government. A request in this connection was forwarded to the Supplies Ministry earlier this week.

But officials said they did not expect any immediate decision on the matter as the current government was preparing to hand over charge to the incoming administration and might not take financial decisions at this late hour.