Oiling India-Nepal Relations: First Transnational Fuel Pipeline Between Two Countries Nears Completion

The first trans-border fuel pipeline between Nepal and India is nearly complete with just over 12 km remaining to be laid down, Business Standard has reported.

According to the report, the pipeline project office in Simara (Nepal) has said that 65 per cent of the 36.2 km long Motihari-Amlekhganj Pipeline project has been completed.

The trans-national pipeline stretches 24 km on Nepal side and has been taken forward as "Mega Project" by the governments of both the nations. The Indian government has reportedly invested a sum of Rs 3,500 crore to install the pipeline for the project from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Bara district of Nepal.

"Work on the project is expediting. Petroleum products will be supplied to Nepal through the routes of Patna in India within three months if work continues at this rate without any interruption," the Pipeline Project Office Engineer Sharad Prasad Paudyal told the Nepal news agency RSS.

The pipeline installation running along the Parsa National Park is yet to be laid.

The foundation stone for the project was jointly laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli eight months ago during the Nepal’s Prime Minister’s visit to India.