Companies operating without even basic infrastructure are neither serving the customers nor supporting establishment of fair play in the market, said Poudyal. Instead, they are just adding cost to the customers by transferring their inefficiency to end users.[break]
Referring to a large number of LPG industries, most of which lack capacity to store fuel for even 15 days and are inefficient, Poudyal said Nepal does not 55 LPG bottling companies, as is the case now.
“Five large industries can fulfill our needs,” said Poudyal and laid emphasis on the need to promote large bottling companies that can maintain sound stock and are efficient and sensitive to customers´ interests.
In order to attain that, he even instructed the corporation to adopt a merger action plan for the LPG bottlers, seeking them to either upgrade their capacity or undergo merger within a stipulated timeline. “If they do not comply, I urge the corporation to land axe against them,” Poudyal said.
Poudyal, who was speaking at the general meeting of LPG Dealers Federation, expressed concerns over growing anomalies in the LPG market.
“Impunity reigns in gas business. If the LPG bottlers do not correct their behavior, the government will take stern actions, intervening into the market,” he stated.
“The government has allowed the companies to earn profits even while it itself has been bearing a huge loss in a bid to cushion consumers. The government suffered a loss of Rs 5 billion on LPG business last year alone. Despite such a situation, it is very unfortunate that the bottlers are found compromising on customers´ safety and serving them in a bad manner,” said Poudyal.
Poudyal also instructed the NOC to play its role of the sectoral regulator effectively and efficiently, adding that its incompetence has presently made Ministry of Commerce and Supplies appear incompetent as well.
The Chief Secretary also instructed the NOC and the LPG bottlers to sincerely commit themselves for distributing Customer Card to each of their customers, paving the way for the introduction of dual cylinder in the market.
Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai said the government was introducing dual cylinder to better serve the household and commercial customers. “It will ensure judicious distribution of pricing. Hence, I urge all stakeholders to cooperate,” he stated.
Though Bhattarai did not refer to the resistance of the bottlers to dual cylinder, he said the government will enforce dual cylinder in the third week of October.
“Providing subsidy to commercial ventures like hotels, restaurants, party palaces, factories and automotive sector is nothing but waste of resources that should otherwise have gone in the development of schools and health posts. Hence, it is very important to introduce dual pricing of LPG,” he stated.
Former Minister for Commerce and Supplies Lekhraj Bhatta, on the other hand, attributed the anomalies in the petroleum sector to the lack of clear petroleum policy.
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