Kathmandu: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has blamed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) for the delayed relocation of an air fuel depot from Sinamangal, which adjoins Tribhuvan International Airport.
According to National News Agency Nepal, despite the government’s serious concern over the current location of NOC’s air fuel depot due to security reasons and the subsequent decision for its removal at the earliest, the relocation of the Sinamangal-based depot has been delayed. NOC claims that this is due to CAAN’s failure to hand over the ownership of the necessary land.
During a recent press conference, NOC’s Sinamangal Depot Chief Pradip Kumar Yadav argued that the lack of a clear demarcation of the identified land, site clearance, and unresolved structures in the proposed depot area from CAAN has made it difficult for NOC to proceed with the relocation. Yadav stated, “We repeatedly prodded CAAN to demarcate the land and sign an agreement for land handover. But there was no noticeable progress besides removing a mound in eight months.”
A year ago, the Cabinet decided to shift the current air fuel depot to the northern side of Tribhuvan International Airport as part of a long-term plan under the aviation capacity upgrading project. CAAN had allotted 60 ropanis of land in the Nepali Army’s golf course area in Gauchar for the depot’s relocation, but the acquisition of the land has faced several hurdles. Yadav expressed concern over the failure to sign an agreement on land ownership transfer despite repeated efforts.
The logging and removal of some structures in the allotted area have yet to be carried out, with approximately 200 trees needing to be logged and the surface leveled. However, site engineer Man Bahadur Singh informed that the leveling of the ground is nearly complete.
In response to a query by RSS, Director General at Tribhuvan International Airport, Hansa Raj Pande, mentioned that the process to hand over the land for the depot relocation is underway. “A proposal on writing off land tax has reached the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation. After it is done, the handover of land ownership would be easy,” he added.
The aviation fuel depot at Sinamangal has the capacity to store 7,660 kiloliters of fuel, with 400 kiloliters of air fuel currently sold daily. The depot comprises eight tanks owned by NOC, which remains the sole entity responsible for selling and distributing fuels in the country.