PM handed MCC evaluation report

The evaluation report being handed by Committee Chairman Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan and other members to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa

• Four-member Cabinet appointed committee hands over document to decide fate of $ 480 m grant 

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was yesterday presented with the evaluation report of the $ 480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement by the four-member committee appointed by the Government. 

Cabinet last December gave its approval to a proposal by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to put on hold the MCC Compact and entrust a four-member committee with the task of studying the agreement and making recommendations to the Government on how to proceed with it.

The committee was chaired by economist Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan. Its other members were former Transport Ministry Secretary D.S. Jayaweera, Nihal Jayawardena PC and architect Nalaka Jayaweera.

The MCC grant figured prominently at the last Presidential Election campaign with the SLPP saying that it would abandon the grant but has since said it was willing to study it further before making a final decision on it.

 The committee presented its evaluation report after six months of study, the Prime Minister’s Media Division said but stopped short of giving any details on what it contained. 

Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena had earlier said the committee in its interim report given earlier this year had recommended the Government not to sign the agreement in its current form as it would undermine the sovereignty of the country.   

The programs to be undertaken under the grant are intended to reduce traffic congestion, improve public transportation in Colombo, upgrade provincial roads and expand existing Government initiatives to improve land administration and strengthen the land rights of Sri Lankans.  

The Cabinet decision made by the previous Government on 29 October to sign the MCC Compact agreement was put on hold until the committee made its recommendations.