KATHMANDU: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has so far collected an amount of Rs 32.2 billion in infrastructure tax to construct the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project.

However, no decision has been made so far on its modality. The NOC has been levying infrastructure tax of Rs 5 per liter on petroleum products at the customs point.

The NOC has been collecting the amount by taxing on the petroleum products entering Nepal from the southern border as part of its contribution to the internal resources for the construction of national pride projects with domestic funding.

According to Nagendra Shah, NOC Officiating Deputy Executive Director, the state-owned NOC had levied tax to collect money in the name of Budhi-Gandaki project. However, the name was later changed as infrastructure tax.

The tax collected so far has been deposited in the state coffee.

The government has said it would start constructing the project in the next fiscal year 2019/20.