KATHMANDU: The common minimum program introduced by the coalition government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba has ignored the projects under the much-talked about Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The previous coalition government of the CPN (Maoist Centre) and Congress had signed the MCC Compact on September 14, 2017.

The controversial MCC project has not been named in the common minimum program of the ruling coalition. Without mentioning the MCC in the common minimum program launched last Sunday, a plan has been put in place to build high-capacity transmission lines and promote bilateral, multilateral dialogue with neighboring countries to export more electricity.

The CPN (Maoist Centre), a component of the current coalition government, has been saying that the MCC should not be passed as it is. The then ruling party and now opposition party Chairman KP Sharma Oli has raised his voice in parliament saying why the MCC was not passed.

The Deuba-led government does not seem to have given priority to the MCC project due to pressure from the Maoist Center, a key component of the ruling coalition. Although the Oli-led government tabled a bill on MCC in the House of Representatives, the speaker has not been able to present it in parliament.

The task force formed to study the MCC agreement has been saying that the MCC should not be passed as it is in the current situation.