Kathmandu, 1 November: The United States has said that millions of Nepalis have been deprived of the benefits of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) since it has not been endorsed by the parliament. The MCC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., has drawn attention to the end of the parliamentary session without the MCC’s approval. It has made such a statement public by issuing a press release.
During the visit of MCC Vice President Fatima Sumar last month, the Government of Nepal had expressed its commitment to pass the MCC in Parliament, the statement said. The United States has pledged Rs 60 billion in grants under the MCC. Nepal’s political parties are divided on the issue of endorsing the MCC from the parliament before implementation
The United States proposed grant worth 60 billion rupees for Nepal is said to be spent for energy and infrastructure development, including roads. However, the MCC headquarters has stated that the Nepali people are being deprived of the benefits from the delay in implementing the MCC.
During the meeting with Vice President Sumar, the top leaders of the coalition parties, including the Prime Minister, had said that a decision on the MCC would be taken by reaching a consensus among the political parties in the alliance government. Opposition party CPN-UML has also said that it will respond to the MCC after the government comes up with a clear view.
The then Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had signed the MCC Agreement in Washington DC four years ago on behalf of Nepal.
The present statement reflects dissatisfaction of the US over the MCC issue.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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