The government has finally tabled the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact at the House of Representatives (HoR) after 31 months of its registration in the Lower House of Federal Parliament. Despite obstructions from the main opposition CPN-UML, the agreement on the MCC Nepal Compact was presented before the lawmakers for debates and discussions after the ruling parties forged a consensus on this following the days of hectic parleys. Since the very beginning, the Nepali Congress has been in favour of accepting the $500 million US grant while other coalition partners -- CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist and Rastriya Janamorcha -- have been against it. The CPN-Maoist Centre and the CPN-Unified Socialist want the MCC compact to be approved only after revising some of its provisions, which they say are not compatible to the country's sovereignty and national security and integrity. Speaker of the HoR Agni Prasad Sapkota allowed Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki to table the proposal on the MCC Nepal Compact on behalf of Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma, who was not present in the meeting.

In 2017, Nepal and the United States of America (USA) had inked an agreement on the $630-million MCC compact. Of the total amount, the US government will contribute $500 million while the Government of Nepal will have to chip in the remaining $130 million. Considered as the biggest ever foreign grant for the development of infrastructure, the MCC compact will be spent on constructing vital cross-border electricity transmission lines and repair strategic roads and highways in the country. At a time when even the ruling parties were divided over the MCC compact, the issue is now on course with its entrance into the sovereign parliament. The matter should be discussed extensively in parliament before its endorsement or rejection. The House is scheduled to meet on coming Thursday (February 24) to deliberate on the issue.

Tabling the proposal and making an appeal to the lawmakers to ratify it, Minister Karki said that the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 prevails over the MCC compact and expressed commitment that Nepal’s sovereignty, freedom and independence will remain intact. He also expressed his resolve on respecting Nepal’s foreign policy not to join any armed organisation as per the spirit of the UN Charter, Principle of Panchasheel, and international laws and world peace. Minister Karki added that as it was the duty of the present government to implement the decision of the past government, the MCC compact is tabled for ratification. The proposal requires to be endorsed by simple majority in the parliament.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has said that Nepal's parliament would decide what development assistance was needed in the best interest of the country and the people. The MoFA has issued the statement in response to divergent views that have appeared in different media regarding the MCC aid to Nepal. It further states that development assistance has played an important role in the building of infrastructures and accelerating the socio-economic development of the country. The HoR is expected to take up the MCC compact seriously and decide on it accordingly. As the proposed grant assistance project is beneficial for Nepal and Nepalis, the responsible political parties should stand in its favour. The tendency of protesting for the sake of protest should be discouraged when it comes to receiving and utilising development grants.