Amid flood crisis, cooking gas price hiked by Rs 105 in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, September 4

Cooking gas (LPG) has become more expensive in Kathmandu Valley after gas bottlers added Rs 105.38 per cylinder to the price, citing increased transportation costs caused by the landslide at Krishnabhir that blocked the Prithvi Highway.

The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has fixed the price of an LPG cylinder at Rs 2,060. However, gas industry operators have added Rs 105.38 as transportation charges, taking the consumer price in Kathmandu Valley to Rs 2,165.38 per cylinder.

The Federation of Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs and the LPG Gas Industry Association said the price increase was decided at its annual general meeting held on September 3.

The association said the additional charge was imposed because cooking gas destined for Kathmandu has to be transported through an alternative route following the Krishnabhir landslide.

Former association president Shiva Prasad Ghimire said the disruption to the usual supply route had significantly increased transportation costs.

“Previously, a bullet tanker transported the gas, with one tanker carrying around 1,250 cylinders. But now, the gas has to be bottled in the Tarai and transported to Kathmandu through another means, which has increased the cost,” Ghimire said.

According to him, the actual additional transportation cost has reached around Rs 180 per cylinder, but consumers have been charged only Rs 105.

Gas industry operators claim the price adjustment was made in consultation with the Nepal Oil Corporation.

Gokul Bhandari, operator of Nepal Gas, said the price of LPG itself has not increased and that the additional amount reflects higher transportation costs.

“NOC has provided us with transportation costs only up to the Tarai, not up to Kathmandu,” Bhandari told Onlinekhabar. “Under the provision agreed with the corporation, we can charge additional transportation costs when gas is transported more than 50 kilometres beyond the designated distance. That is why we have increased the price by Rs 105 per cylinder.”

Bhandari said the industry’s actual additional cost is more than Rs 200 per cylinder, but the existing NOC provision does not allow operators to charge consumers more than Rs 105 under the circumstances.

“We have had to bring the gas even by bearing a loss,” he said.

What does Nepal Oil Corporation say?

NOC says the price it fixes for LPG applies only to transportation within a 50-kilometre distance from the bottling plant.

NOC spokesperson Manoj Thakur said gas operators are allowed to add transportation costs when supplying LPG beyond that distance.

“The price fixed by the corporation applies up to a distance of 50 kilometres from the industry. For destinations beyond that, the operators can add transportation costs,” Thakur said.

Asked whether gas operators had increased the transportation charge without NOC approval, Thakur said the arrangement was not a new one and had been in place for years.

“This is not a new provision. The same rule has been in place for a long time,” he said. “It applies everywhere. For example, if a gas industry in Biratnagar sends LPG more than 50 kilometres away, the transportation cost is added to the price.”

The latest increase means consumers in Kathmandu Valley will now have to pay Rs 2,165.38 for a standard LPG cylinder, with the additional Rs 105.38 attributed to higher transportation costs following the disruption of the Prithvi Highway.

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