A clash broke out between pro-royalists and security personnel in Sinamangal on Friday, prompting the police to fire tear gas to disperse the protesters. The protesters picked up the tear gas canisters and hurled them toward the Nepal Oil Corporation depot.
The area surrounding the depot was engulfed in smoke. The facility was spared from disaster only because it stored aviation fuel (ATF), Nepal Oil Corporation’s Aviation Fuel Depot Chief Engineer, Pradeep Kumar Yadav, told Annapurna. “Had it been petrol, the depot would have been destroyed.”
Aviation fuel is less flammable than petrol, similar to kerosene, which is why the depot remained safe, Yadav explained. However, the incident has once again raised concerns about the safety of the aviation fuel depot in Sinamangal. “If fire had been thrown toward the depot during Friday’s protest, Tribhuvan International Airport could have been devastated,” said Gyanendra Bhul, Information Officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). Calling the depot a ‘hazard,’ Bhul emphasized the high risk of an accident.
The Sinamangal aviation fuel depot, nearly 50 years old, has a storage capacity of 7,660 kiloliters. Currently, it distributes 400 kiloliters of aviation fuel daily. The facility includes three storage tanks of 1,600 kiloliters, three of 760 kiloliters, and eight of 70 kiloliters. According to Yadav, the depot has the capacity to store aviation fuel for about a month. However, its location within a sensitive area has become a growing concern.
Local residents, highway authorities, and the aviation sector have long voiced their worries about the depot’s location. In response, the Cabinet, in a meeting on 12 Aug 2024, directed that the aviation fuel depot be relocated to a safer and more suitable site within a year.
Meanwhile, CAAN is expanding and upgrading Tribhuvan International Airport, including the construction of a parallel taxiway to improve access to the main runway. According to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and CAAN’s master plan, the distance between the runway centerline and the taxiway should be 172.5 meters. However, to build the taxiway, nearly half of the Nepal Oil Corporation’s aviation fuel depot must be removed. Regulations dictate that such hazardous storage facilities should not be placed within 75 meters of the airport runway.
“This area is classified as a sensitive zone,” said Bhul. “Flammable depots cannot be located within 150 meters on either side of the runway.” CAAN has repeatedly urged the Oil Corporation to relocate the depot, but the corporation has cited budgetary constraints and a lack of available land as obstacles.
Depot Chief Engineer Yadav acknowledged that relocation is the only viable option. “A depot this close to the airport runway and a major highway is not safe in any way. The government should learn from Friday’s protest and the potential damage it could have caused. This is a serious challenge,” he said.
Following the government’s directive last August, the relocation process has begun. CAAN has allocated 50 ropanis of land in Guhyeshwari, near the Nepal Army Golf Course, northwest of the airport runway, for the new depot. Bhul confirmed that the land transfer to the Oil Corporation has been completed. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 6bn.
A detailed project report (DPR) is currently being prepared under an agreement signed with Pulchowk Engineering last December, with completion expected within five months. Yadav estimated that the DPR will take about two more months to finalize. The new depot in Guhyeshwari will feature five storage tanks with a capacity of 3,000 kiloliters. An agreement has been reached between the concerned authorities to construct the facility using state-of-the-art technology.
