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Kathmandu,Sunday April 16, 2000 Baishakh 04, 2057.
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LPG import stalled at customs
By Sudeep Shrestha
KATHMANDU, April 15 - The consignment of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG)
imported by Nepal has been lying at the Customs in border points for the past five days
due to the confusion over taxes on the import.
According to the gas dealers, the confusion arose due to the recently
announced Indian budget which has made significant changes in the customs duties.
The Indian budget, announced on April 1, removed excise duty in the exported
goods and implemented Central Value Added Tax (Cen VAT). Prior to this, the Indian
government used to give the excise duty it raised from Nepali importers to the government
of Nepal. Because of this, Nepali importers were given special concessions on the Customs
duty.
The Indian government earlier imposed eight percent customs duty on the
import of LPG to Nepal. This has created confusion over whether or not to continue giving
concession on the import of LPG.
The traders are demanding that the government clarify the provisions with the
Indian government.
"The government has to do something about it immediately," says
Ashok Singh, marketing manager of HP gas. According to him, although the delay in import
of the LPG has not created shortage at present, the day is not far when the country would
be hit with gas scarcity.
"There are 26 gas tankers at the Birgunj Customs which have been
blocked," said Singh. Birgunj Customs is one of the main point for the exports and
imports.
The traders are demanding that Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) should stand as a
guarantor and release the tankers from the Customs. According to Yuvaraj Sharma, Executive
Director of NOC, the corporation has already sent an official to the Birgunj Customs to
release the tankers by keeping a collateral. "It has been decided to release the
tankers on collateral. The tankers will be freed by tomorrow," said Sharma.
"The confusion over the concession has to be settled through bilateral
talks by both the governments," he said. "Until the talks are settled we will
pay the collateral equal in amount to the taxes and bring the tankers."
"If the decision to return the excise duty is reached later, the account
will be settled with the traders accordingly. Otherwise the money will go as the
revenue," said Sharma.
HP Gas’s Marketing Manager Singh told The Kathmandu Post that when he
contacted the Indian officials at Indian Oil Corporation, they informed him that the new
provision was just a change of name and that it would not make any difference to Nepal.
"However, our government has not taken any decision on this," said
Singh.
The traders say that if the excise duty is not returned to them, then they
will have to pay the eight percent of Customs duty which will ultimately lead to the rise
of about 25 percent in the current LPG price.
However, they also add that since the chances of Nepal being affected by the
new Indian system is very little the chances of the gas price going up is also "very
low".
When questioned if the price of the gas was likely to go up, Executive
Director Sharma said, "Since we have recently raised the price of kerosene and
diesel, we do not intend to increase the price of the gas."
The traders fear that if the gas is kept for long
at the Customs it might leak due to the rising temperature of terai. "One of the
tankers had to be brought by paying the collateral since it was leaking," said
Sharma.
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