Nepal Foreign Affairs (Kathmandu, November 1)–China, on Saturday, dispatched a first batch of petrol to Nepal as country has been reeling under acute shortage of gasoline after India imposed economic blockade against Nepal after Nepal adopted a democratic constitution on Sept 20.
Amid a function held in Kerung (Jilong), a city in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, the Chinese side provided a 27,000 liter of petrol in the form of grant to Nepalese side, Nepal’s Ambassador to China Dr Mahesh Maskey told reporters in Rasuwagadi.
Three NoC tankers carrying the grant fuel arrived at Rasuwgadi border point from Kerung at 9:30 pm on Saturday.
China is supplying 1,000 metric tons of grant fuel to Nepal within a week, Spokesman at the Nepal Oil Corporation, Dipak Baral, told reporters in Rasuwagadi.
“Nine more tankers will be dispatched to Kerung on Sunday to bring rest of the grant fuel,” Baral added.
This is the first batch of petrol sent to Nepal by the Chinese government a week after the Petro China and Nepal Oil Corporation signed a Framework Agreement on supplying petroleum products from China to Nepal.
“This is a historic deal with China as it has given a new window for us to import gasoline from China. We will import fuel from China and other countries in the days to come,” Ambassador Maskey added.
The Ambassador said that this deal will be beneficial to Nepal in the long run and stressed that the roads connecting to Nepal need to be upgraded and renovated which were severely damaged following the April 25 earthquake this year.