Kathmandu, December 28
The government of Nepal is soon beginning a feasibility study to check if it is possible to extract natural cooking gas in the Kathmandu Valley.
Director General at the Department of Mines and Geology, Rajendra Prasad Khanal, says the test will be launched at Teku-based Natural Gas Station. If the project gives positive results about production and distribution of the fuel, the government will move ahead with the plan; but if the results will be negative, the project will be dropped, according to him.
If the results are positive, similar tests will be carried out at other 12 stations inside the Valley. Earlier, an experiment done in Imadol of Lalitpur had found that extracting was would be impossible there.
Chief of the Department’s Natural Gas Division, Prithvi Lal Shrestha, says the project will be very costly. While the government needs to spend around Rs 6 million to know if extraction is possible at one place, actual production and distribution will be much expensive, he warns.
Some officials of the Department, therefore, comment that project may take many years to yield fruits thanks to lack of sufficient budget, human resources and technologies.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had drilled a hole to extract natural gas in Teku of Kathmandu around 35 years ago. The hole, however, has been covered with clay and sand now thanks to negligence.
