KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated the Nepal-India cross-border petroleum pipeline on Tuesday through a video conference.

The inauguration was done by pressing a switch button by Nepal’s PM Oli and Indian PM Modi through a live video conference between the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar, Office of the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi.

This will now open the valve of the petroleum pipeline marking the commercial operation of the cross-border project.

The 69-km pipeline starting from Motihari in India ends at Amlekhgunj in Nepal is first of its kind in South Asia.

India’s largest refiner Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Ltd, built the pipeline with an investment of over INR 324 crore in collaboration with Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Ltd fulfilling the commitment made under an MoU signed in August 2014.

The Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum products pipeline has been envisaged to put in place a mechanism for assured, continuous, cost-effective, quality and eco-friendly supply of petroleum products to Nepal, according to a statement issued by the Embassy of India in Kathmandu.

The Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline, which was initially proposed in 1996, was finalized in 2014 during the visit of Indian PM Modi to Kathmandu. Both the government has signed an agreement for the execution of the project in August 2015.