3 MINUTE READ
March 3, 2022
The MCC-Nepal Compact marks a new chapter in the U.S.-Nepal Partnership. Together, we will increase the availability and reliability of electricity, improve roads, and facilitate power trade across South Asia.
In 2012, the Government of Nepal requested the opportunity to collaborate with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. Government agency, to design a plan to grow the country’s economy and improve the lives of the Nepali people.
In September 2017, the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $500 million grant agreement with the Government of Nepal. The MCC-Nepal Compact aims to increase the availability and reliability of electricity, maintain road quality, and facilitate regional trade– helping to spur investments, accelerate economic growth, and reduce poverty.
The MCC- Nepal Compact will help the Government of Nepal better deliver critical services to its people, enhance and strengthen the country’s energy sector, ease the movement of goods around the country, and open up new opportunities for private investment – all to create sustainable development for the people of Nepal.
TOP 10 FACTS ABOUT THE MCC-NEPAL COMPACT
- The MCC-Nepal Compact will advance Nepal’s economic growth by strengthening and expanding the energy sector, improving road quality, and creating business opportunities for the people of Nepal.
- The Government of Nepal demonstrated its commitment to the MCC partnership by contributing an additional $130 million U.S. dollars towards programs. This remains the largest up-front contribution of any partner government in the history of MCC.
- The Government of Nepal identified the country’s need for more widely available and reliable electricity, and safer roads that are more consistently maintained and worked with MCC to focus on these national priorities. Nepalis will lead compact project teams and will be accountable to Nepali stakeholders for making decisions and achieving results. Citizens of Nepal will be hired to lead compact
- Over the last decade, the MCC-Nepal Compact has received the support of every Prime Minster and committed endorsem*nts from civil society and the private sector.
- Even after parliamentary ratification, the MCC-Nepal Compact, does not and will not prevail over Nepal’s constitution.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact will make travel cheaper, the movement of goods easier and safer for drivers, travelers, and commuters along the East-West Highway network using climate-smart, sustainable technology to recycle asphalt and create a safer transportation network that is easier to maintain, quicker to repair, and better for the environment.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact will support the construction of powerlines connecting clean energy generated by Nepalese hydropower resources to over two-thirds of the homes and businesses across Nepal.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact is a non-military agreement; it does not have any military components and by U.S. law, MCC funding cannot be used for military assistance or training.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact is not, and never has been, a deliverable of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
- MCC partnership is 100% grant funding – not loans.
For more information, please visit https://www.mcc.gov/where-we-work/program/nepal-compact
