Proceeding with the MCC - US embassy to await SL Govt’s decision

The US Embassy in Colombo said yesterday it would await the Sri Lankan government's decision on how it would like to proceed with the MCC grant agreement, shortly after a minister announced that the Cabinet had decided not to sign the agreement in its present form.

"The US Embassy understands that the government has undertaken a thorough review of the MCC grant agreement," an embassy spokesperson told Daily Mirror.

She said the grant agreement was a US$480 million dollar programme that would benefit 11 million Sri Lankans by helping to alleviate traffic congestion and ensure Sri Lankans can obtain title documents for the land they legally own.

However, Cabinet spokesman, Minister Bandula Gunawardena told a media briefing yesterday that the committee which studied the agreement had decided that the MCC agreement contained provisions which violated Sri Lanka’s Constitution, national security and sovereignty.

But he said Sri Lanka would be willing to sign the agreement without the contentious segments and pointed out that the agreement was prepared at the discretion of the former government led by the United National Party (UNP) and not by the United States. (JAMILA HUSAIN)