KATHMANDU: With fuel transporters causing supply disruption time and again, the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation is gearing up to introduce its own fuel transport mechanism.

Sushil Bhattarai, acting deputy managing director of NOC, said the corporation would initiate the process of purchasing dozens of fuel-ferrying tankers and appointing permanent tanker operators so that fuel supply did not get halted completely even during difficult times. NOC does not have its own fuel transport mechanism and is completely dependent on private tanker operators, with whom it signs supply contract.

On Friday, NOC had deployed almost 30 tankers of security agencies to supply fuel from its depots to the market and had also compelled a few agitating tanker operators to collect fuel from NOC’s depot using police force. “Till now, we had been prioritising expansion of our fuel storage capacity, but recently we have come to realise we need to first develop our own fuel transport mechanism,” stated Bhattarai.