China set to supply gasoline to fuel-starved Nepal: Official

Drivers wait in a queue to fill petrol near a petrol pump as fuel crisis continues in Kathmandu, Nepal October 1, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

China will provide Nepal with 1.3 million liters (340,000 gallons) of gasoline to help it cope with severe fuel shortages as a result of restricted supplies from neighboring India, officials said Sunday.

The gasoline will be brought to a town near the China-Nepal border, said Nepal Oil Corporation official Deepak Baral. It will take about 100 tanker trucks to transport the gasoline to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

It would be the first time Nepal would be getting fuel from China. The countries share a border that has the world's highest mountains, but two border crossings were damaged by an April earthquake. One of the crossings reopened this month.

Madhesi ethnic groups have been protesting in southern Nepal against the country's new constitution for weeks, blocking essential supplies from India.

Nepal usually gets all of its fuel from India, which has close cultural ties with the Madhesis.

Protesters have blocked a key Nepal-India border point for weeks. Other crossing points are free of protesters, but India has refused to allow a normal supply of fuel to Nepal.