A decision on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement will be taken after the Parliamentary election in August, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz said.<\/p>\n
In an online discussion with a group of journalists, the Ambassador said that the US respects President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s decision to review the grant proposal.<\/p>\n
She said that the agreement remained stalled following the Constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka in 2018 and with the Government now in a transition period the US is awaiting some of that transition to complete with the Parliamentary election.<\/p>\n
The Ambassador said that the grant focuses on transportation and land administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a grant agreement, it\u2019s a fixed term grant for five years to execute the projects that are part of the grant. It doesn\u2019t have a life beyond that time frame,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
The Ambassador also said that there needs to be accountability when spending such money and that is why there is a framework.<\/p>\n
The cabinet had decided in February that Sri Lanka will not sign the US$ 480 million MCC agreement in its current form.<\/p>\n
Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena had said at the time that a committee appointed by the Government to review the agreement had submitted its recommendations, which was presented to the cabinet.<\/p>\n
Mr. Gunawardena said the committee had found that some clauses in the agreement are harmful to Sri Lanka\u2019s Constitution and National security.<\/p>\n
The committee had proposed that the agreement not be signed in its current form and instead be amended and submitted to the public and Parliament for it to be considered.<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Daily Mirror<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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