Writing a letter to Petro China Company Limited (PCCL) on November 3, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had invited the Chinese petroleum company to visit Nepal by November 16 to discuss and sign commercial agreement.Officials say the plan is not making headway because of inefficient working procedure of related government bodies. “There is no one to blame but us,” a senior official of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) told Republica on Sunday. “No one knows what progress has been made on the plan. If no one here is concerned, why would China show interest to sign any agreement?”
The official also said NOC was not working actively to sign the agreement.
The letter sent by NOC incorporated issues like commercial norms, fuel supply mechanism, available infrastructures and fuel rates, among others.
NOC has already proposed PCCL to supply one-third of Nepal’s total petroleum demand.
The delay in getting response from PCCL, which, officials say, is due to government’s dilly-dallying on signing commercial agreement with PCCL, has hinted that petroleum crisis will not end soon.
Nepal had signed framework agreement with China for supply of petroleum products on October 29. Following the agreement, Nepal has received 1.3 million liters of petrol as fuel grant from the northern neighbor.
Officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) say they do not have much information about the issue. “We have heard that PCCL is working on a concrete mechanism to supply petroleum products to Nepal,” Jhapendra Aryal, joint secretary of MoFA told Republica, adding, “We, however, have not received any official response from China.”
Aryal also said NOC has to keep track of the issue.
NOC officials say that they have been urging PCCL to visit Nepal to sign commercial agreement for supply of petroleum products. “We have already sent the detailed proposal including financial details,” Sushil Bhattarai, director of NOC, told Republica. “PCCL has asked us for some time so that they can study our proposal and develop effective mechanism to supply petroleum products to Nepal.”
Bhattarai also said both the sides are in touch via email. “We are finalizing terms and conditions of the agreement. They might visit Nepal to sign the agreement soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, addressing the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli announced that Nepal will expand bilateral trade with China.
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