United States Announces Potential Opportunities in Nepal

New Delhi: The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. Government agency, held a market outreach event here yesterday to apprise Indian and India-based American firms of business opportunities under the proposed MCC program in Nepal. Under the proposed program, MCC would provide grant funding to the Government of Nepal for poverty reduction through economic growth, by investing in the power and transport sectors.

In the power sector, MCC is planning to finance the construction of approximately 300 km of 400kV transmission lines, three associated substations, and provide technical assistance. In the transport sector, the program plans to invest in the road maintenance system and provide technical assistance. These proposed investments will open attractive business opportunities for firms. All procurements will be competed through the open and transparent international competitive procurement procedures of MCC (www.mcc.gov/ppg).

The market outreach event was organized by the U.S. Embassy Delhi in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) at the FICCI center. The seminar was opened by Mr. George Sibley, the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy New Delhi, and by the FICCI Secretary General, Dr. A. Didar Singh. U.S. Embassy Kathmandu’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Michael C. Gonzales, provided comments and encouraged the participants to not only compete for the upcoming business opportunities but also consider investing in Nepal in other power projects as well as other infrastructure sectors. Presentations were made by Mr. Himesh Dhungel, MCC’s Country Director for Nepal, and Mr. Prabhat Garg, MCC’s Procurement Practice Lead.

About 30 firms participated in the event. For further information or to receive copies of the presentations, please contact Mr. Jacob Gjesdahl.