South Asia's first cross border petroleum pipeline to operationalise from July

South Asia's first cross border petroleum pipeline linking Motihari in India and Amlekhgunj in Nepal is set to operationalise from next month, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Thursday.

According to the NOC, around 99 per cent installation of the 78 kilometres long petroleum pipeline has been completed. The pipeline will be functional from mid July.

The Indian Oil Corporation is set to provide training to 25 technicians from Nepal to make them capable to functionalise the first cross border petroleum pipeline of South Asia.

Out of the total length of the pipeline, around 36 kilometres lie within the Indian territory, while the remaining 42 kilometres lie in Nepal.

The Petroleum project was expected to commence in mid-April this year, but due to a delay in acquiring the permission to cut trees inside Parsa National Park, the project was further hindered by a month.

The pipeline is jointly constructed by the Government of India and Nepal. The NOC is making the expenses over the construction of the pipeline on behalf of Nepal Government.

In addition, the Indian government has invested Rs 3.5 billion to install the pipeline. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli jointly laid the foundation stone for the project at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi during Oli's visit to India in 2018.

The Nepal and Indian governments had signed the agreement over the construction of the pipeline on August 24, 2015, in Kathmandu in the presence of Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The NOC further plans to expand the pipeline up to Lothar in Chitwan.

( With inputs from ANI )