Bara, March 3

After getting the nod from the government to fell trees in Parsa National Park, work on the Motihari-Amlekhganj petroleum pipeline project has resumed.

Around 81,600 tress, including small and large trees, will be cleared in the area between Pathlaiya to Amlekhgunj.

Petroleum Pipeline Project Office Chief Pradip Yadav said pipelines would be laid in the forest area within a month. Yadav said the complicated legal process for cutting the trees had delayed work. “We will be importing petroleum products through pipeline within two months,” Yadav stated.

The Cabinet meeting held around one-and-a-half months ago had given the green signal to fell trees in Parsa National Park. Hetauda-based Nisha Suppliers was awarded the contract to cut trees.

Of the total 69-kilometre pipeline from Motihari to Amlekhgunj, 36 kilometres fall on the Nepali side. Pipe laying work in 27 kilometres has already been completed on the Nepali side. The work of laying the pipeline on the Indian side is already over. Import of petroleum products through pipeline will ease supply easy and reduce transport cost and other losses.

Nepal Oil Corporation estimates that import of fuel through pipeline will save up to Rs 600 million per year. Of the total fuel required for the country, 70 per cent is imported via Raxaul border to Birgunj.