Safety plan must to get licence for gas company
KATHMANDU:
A gas company needs to submit its financial position and saftey measures to get the licence, according to recommendation of a committee, formed under Ministry of Commerce and Supplies with a mandate to carry out study on registration, operation and monitoring of gas industries along with its safety issues.
“If things go as planned, gas companies should have to abide by stronger regulations in the days to come,” said committee coordinator Abha Shrestha.
The committee was formed under the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies with a mandate to carry out the study on registration, operation and monitoring of gas business — the most unregulated sector — along with its safety issues.
If the sector is not regulated now, the chances of breaching regulation by those companies would remain high posing serious threat to the public’s life,” she said, adding that the regulatory body should inspect every aspect of business before issuing licence to make the company more responsible.
Department of Industry has been issuing licence based on the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) so far. “Initial Environmental Examination, alone is not sufficient to issue licence to a gas company,” she said, adding that the regulatory body should examine its safety appropriateness to ensure the long term safety as it is directly related to the public’s life.
The committee is also recommending the government to locate gas industry five km away from residential area and from other industries as well, shreshtha added.
According to currently regulation too, gas company should be located five km away from the residential area but they are not abiding by the regulation.
Gas industries should be located not only far from residential area and but also far from another gas industries for safety, Shrestha said, adding that it has been found that the gas companies and oxygen industry are operating closely at present. “Oxygen industry near to a cooking gas industry is more dangerous from the security point of view.”
The committee has found several safety lapses in the gas business in Nepal, she said, adding that most of the gas companies have failed to carry out hydrostatic test and store sufficient stock of water in side the company for the security reasons.
“The report is also incorporating the provision of minimum requirement of water tank that could supply at least four hours of regular water, in case of any untoward incident,” she informed, adding that the committee is also recommending the ministry to make the hydrostatic test compulsory.
The committee concluded that the monitoring part of cooking gas industry is weaker. “The committee is also recommending Nepal Oil Corporation, Department of Commerce, Department of Industry and Bureau of Standards and Metrology to make the monitoring more reliable,” she added. “The government has to formulate separate Exclusive Act at the earliest to curb all irregularities in the gas business.”
A High Level Committee led by parliamentarian Bhim Acharya that was formed to present recommendations to the government to reform petroleum business in Nepal had also concluded that the gas industries are flouting regulation and breaching essential safety norms. The committee had also directed the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Department of Commerce, Department of Industry and other agencies to take prompt action to ensure safety.
Source: THT
A gas company needs to submit its financial position and saftey measures to get the licence, according to recommendation of a committee, formed under Ministry of Commerce and Supplies with a mandate to carry out study on registration, operation and monitoring of gas industries along with its safety issues.
“If things go as planned, gas companies should have to abide by stronger regulations in the days to come,” said committee coordinator Abha Shrestha.
The committee was formed under the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies with a mandate to carry out the study on registration, operation and monitoring of gas business — the most unregulated sector — along with its safety issues.
If the sector is not regulated now, the chances of breaching regulation by those companies would remain high posing serious threat to the public’s life,” she said, adding that the regulatory body should inspect every aspect of business before issuing licence to make the company more responsible.
Department of Industry has been issuing licence based on the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) so far. “Initial Environmental Examination, alone is not sufficient to issue licence to a gas company,” she said, adding that the regulatory body should examine its safety appropriateness to ensure the long term safety as it is directly related to the public’s life.
The committee is also recommending the government to locate gas industry five km away from residential area and from other industries as well, shreshtha added.
According to currently regulation too, gas company should be located five km away from the residential area but they are not abiding by the regulation.
Gas industries should be located not only far from residential area and but also far from another gas industries for safety, Shrestha said, adding that it has been found that the gas companies and oxygen industry are operating closely at present. “Oxygen industry near to a cooking gas industry is more dangerous from the security point of view.”
The committee has found several safety lapses in the gas business in Nepal, she said, adding that most of the gas companies have failed to carry out hydrostatic test and store sufficient stock of water in side the company for the security reasons.
“The report is also incorporating the provision of minimum requirement of water tank that could supply at least four hours of regular water, in case of any untoward incident,” she informed, adding that the committee is also recommending the ministry to make the hydrostatic test compulsory.
The committee concluded that the monitoring part of cooking gas industry is weaker. “The committee is also recommending Nepal Oil Corporation, Department of Commerce, Department of Industry and Bureau of Standards and Metrology to make the monitoring more reliable,” she added. “The government has to formulate separate Exclusive Act at the earliest to curb all irregularities in the gas business.”
A High Level Committee led by parliamentarian Bhim Acharya that was formed to present recommendations to the government to reform petroleum business in Nepal had also concluded that the gas industries are flouting regulation and breaching essential safety norms. The committee had also directed the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Department of Commerce, Department of Industry and other agencies to take prompt action to ensure safety.
Source: THT
