Goodwill diesel consignment to Bangladesh flagged off from Siliguri

The consignment was sent from the Siliguri Marketing Terminal of Numaligarh Refineries Ltd.

Pradhan formally flagged off the goodwill rake of 42 wagon, each carrying 64 kilolitre of HSD in presence of S.S. Ahluwalia, the MP from Darjeeling.

The consignment of 2200 metric tonnes will reach Parbatipur storage Depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation on March 19.

The present consignment is very significant as it has been outlined in the joint declaration Notun Projanma, Nayi Disha adopted during the visit of the Prime Minister when both India and Bangladesh welcomed the Sale-Purchase Agreement signed between NRL and BPC for construction of a pipeline from Siliguri to Parbatipur for supply of HSD to Bangladesh.

It was agreed to jointly work towards implementation of this ‘Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline’, a 135 kms pipeline project (5 km in India and 130 km in Bangladesh) with a capacity to carry 1 MMTPA from Siliguri terminal to Parbatipur depot of BPC. The export of petroleum products from India to Bangladesh is also in line with the ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ of Government of India to boost bilateral trade between the two countries and sub-regional cooperation within SAARC.

Presently, Bangladesh meets its requirement of petroleum products through imports at Chittagong port.

The products are subsequently transported to the rest of the country using river route. Once the NRL refinery expansion from present 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA is complete, India will be in a position to export petroleum products on a regular and long term basis to Bangladesh.

Prior to the construction of the pipeline, the rail rake mode of transportation of product from Siliguri to Parbatipur is also an effective mode of transport with minimum loss and pollution.