Minister Karki insists on ratifying MCC compact agreement through parliament

Published On: February 20, 2022 06:00 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Feb 20: Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki has insisted on the need for endorsing the MCC compact agreement reached between the Nepal government and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) by the people’s representatives in accordance with the constitutional provisions.

Tabling the document in the House of Representatives (HoR) today, he urged political parties to help ratify it to secure the benefits of development projects. The government spokesperson apprised the House that the aid agreement was about providing grant assistance of US dollar 500 million for the development of a 400-KV transmission line and maintenance of roadways in the country.

As Minister Karki said, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on 11 January 2020 advised ratifying the proposal from the lower house with a general majority and it was presented before the House following the same advice.

The document was finally introduced in the House two and a half years after it was registered at the parliament secretariat.

Minister Karki tabled it on behalf of Finance Minister Janardan Sharma.

Prior to this, a meeting of the ruling partners held at the Prime Minister’s official residence agreed to move the agreement to parliament.

It may be noted that the Foreign Assistance Coordination Division Chief was appointed as the contact officer to coordinate with the MCC during the term of Baburam Bhattarai as the Prime Minister of Nepal and Barshaman Pun as the Finance Minister. At that time it was informed that Nepal had been selected in the MCC threshold program.

A team of Nepali economists was formed for ‘content analysis’ in the fiscal year 2069/70 BS when Khila Raj Regmi was the chair of the Council of Ministers and Shankar Prasad Koirala was the Finance Minister.

Similarly, in 2070-72 BS, Nepal was informed that it had been selected for the MCC compact. At that time, Sushil Koirala was the Prime Minister and Dr Ram Sharan Mahat was the Finance Minister. It followed the appointment of former secretary Krishna Gyawali as the national coordinator for the preparation of the compact program and steering committee under the convenorship of the then Finance Minister.

Later, it was agreed to accept the technical assistance to assess feasible projects in 2072-73 BS. The decision was also made to accept the technical assistance to prepare the draft of the compact and carry out a feasibility study of projects. It was followed by the decision to entertain monetary assistance of Rs 1.13 billion (10.75 million US dollars) to develop the compact programs. At that time, KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister and Bishnu Poudel was the Finance Minister.

(RSS)