KATHMANDU (TIP): Nepal is mulling airlifting fuel either from Bangladesh or Malaysia and may build a petroleum storage plant near its border with China as the fuel crisis deepened due to continued blockade of land trade points with India amid protests over the new constitution.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has been tasked to prepare alternative plans for fuel import by the commerce ministry following the blockade, The Kathmandu Post reported.

In its proposal, the state-owned enterprise has drawn short- and long-term plans for fuel import. The NOC has planned to import fuel either from Bangladesh or Malaysia as short term solution. “The NOC meeting on Wednesday has considered air-lifting fuel as an option for now. However, we are yet to reach to any conclusion,” said an NOC source told the paper. In the long term plan, the NOC has recommended for importing fuel from China and sending a technical team there for a feasibility study.