Exploration appears to have borne fruit in the discovery of natural gas reserves in the 26-sq km stretch starting from Tripureshwor, Tinkune,Jadibuti, Imadol, and Tikathali to Ekantakuna in the Kathmandu Valley. A Nepali firm and an Indian company have in a report to the government claimed a gas reserve of 31.76 crore cubic metres. If exploited fully, experts say, the reserve can meet the gas demand of 20,000 families for 55 years. Since methane gas reportedly emanating from the wells at Ekantakuna, Teku and Jadibuti cannot be directly filled into cooking gas cylinders, it needs to be piped to the consumers, which calls for additional funds and technical know-how.

If the claimed reserve can be tapped, it will kill two birds with one stone. Extraction of one cubic metre of gas means 400 litres of water, a gift that can help meet the Valley’s chronic water need. However, the possibility of the earth’s surface caving in at the marked area is quite high. Some sort of a recharge policy would have to be put in place to maintain the water level. Adoption of safety measures should also merit high priority. But more significantly, the Department of Mines and Geology would have to lure in foreign investors to tap this resource. The bodies concerned will have to match enthusiasm with follow-up action so that part of the demand for LPG can be met locally.