December 23: The taskforce formed by the government to forge a consensus regarding the US-funded project, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), held its first meeting on Wednesday.

During the meeting reportedly held at the residence of CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Jhalanath Khanal in Dallu, Kathmandu, the taskforce members held preliminary discussion regarding endorsement of the MCC which has courted controversy in Nepal.  

Leaders are divided over whether to endorse the grant assistance or not due to the some alleged objectionable provisions of the project. Even some ruling parties including CPN Maoist Centre and CPN Unified Socialist are not in favour of endorsing the MCC grant agreement in its present form. They have been demanding amendment to some provisions while the main opposition party CPN UML has been obstructing house proceedings.

The then government led by Nepali Congress had signed the grant agreement with the MCC in Washington in September 2017. As per the agreement, the United States had agreed to provide US$500 million in grants for two projects, and that the Government of Nepal would contribute $130 million for these projects. The fund would be utilized for road construction and repair and electricity production and construction of transmission lines.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, who is also a taskforce member, said that discussions held on Wednesday were headed in a positive direction.

The ruling coalition had formed a three-member taskforce to solicit support from other political parties to endorse the MCC. The taskforce led by Khanal comprises of CPN  (Maoist Center) leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Minister Karki.   

The task force has been mandated to hold discussions with other political parties on the issues ranging from resuming the parliamentary procedure to advancing several agendas under-consideration in the parliament.