Agreement with US Millennium Challenge Corporation Prez insists on a close scrutiny prior to approval

By Kelum Bandara

President Maithripala Sirisena told the Cabinet meeting yesterday that each clause of the agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the United States should be scrutinized before it was approved by Parliament.  

The MCC, which is an independent US foreign assistance agency helping in the fight against global poverty has approved a grant aid of US$480 million to Sri Lanka for three main projects to be completed within a period of five years -- reducing city traffic, modernising the public transport system and improving land administration.   

The National Economic Council (NCC) which functions under the President had sent its observations to the Cabinet yesterday regarding Sri Lanka’s commitments to be made so as to obtain the grant aid.   

The President told the Cabinet that the agreement should be studied properly and was reported to have expressed some reservations about the proposed changes to land administration in Sri Lanka.   

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera had said the former government had been unsuccessful in securing this grant aid and that the present government was able to qualify for it because of its policies on good governance.   

However, the President insisted that each clause should be studied in depth before signing the document.