Kathmanduties getting 4% of LPG demand

Kathmandu December 22- Department of Commerce and Supply Management has said that Kathmandu Valley has been receiving just 4 percent of its cooking gas demand and poor distribution mechanism and obstructions by people living around gas bottling plants are creating difficulties in delivering cooking gas to the Valley. The Valley demands 13,800 tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) per month, according to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).

It said Nepal has been receiving around 11 percent of its total demand that stands at 23,000 tonnes per month. However, due to transportation problems as a result of Tarai unrest and India’s trade embargo, most of the imported gas goes to Tarai-based bottlers.

The government has directed the bottlers to divert 60 percent of the total imports to the Valley but disruptions by locals, demanding that the bottlers sell directly to them, have reduced the shipment to the Valley.

In a bid to make the distribution effective, the government on November 2 had asked the bottlers to distribute cooking gas only through their dealers. However, the bottlers have been failing to do so due to the lack of cooperation by local administration.

Locals had captured the entire distribution system in many places and somewhere traders involved in black-marketeering are also using the locals. Even the bottlers have been found involved in the illicit trade of cooking gas. Source: TKP