Universal network of infrastructure to be created
The Minister of the Roads and Transportation, A.Gansukh, gathered the press to update them on current situation of and future projects in auto traffic, railway, sea and water transport, and other transportation modes in the upcoming years.
This year, Dornod, Dornogibi, Dundgobi, Umnugobi, Bayankhongor, and Khuvsgul provinces are to be connected with the capital city of Mongolia with paved road. The total length of the new roads will be 1,347 kilometres. Next year, Zavkhan, Gobi-Altai, and Sukhbaatar provinces and, in 2015, Bayan-Ulgii, Khovd, and Uvs provinces are to be connected with Ulaanbaatar as well. Starting this year, the quality of the newly paved roads will be improved and the roads will be completed at their designated time. The permission to participate in the tender bid will be terminated to those entities that cannot complete the road work on time.
Studies are being made to make changes in the budget expenditure to build roads taking into account the geographical feature of the provinces. Over 90 percent of road quality depends on the engineering, equipment, and facilities. “Thus, special attention must be paid to that, said Minister A.Gansukh.
Mining OUTPUT to be delivered to third neighbour countries via new railway and seaport
The new railway, which will become the major means to export Mongolia’s mining output to the world market, will be built in the direction of the seaports of two neighbouring countries. The authority to for this project was granted to Ulaanbaatar Railway to build the 1,900-kilometre long railway. According to A.Gansukh, the company that will implement “Project New Railway” will be formed next week.
The citizens are grateful for this project which is in line with the sub-program to reduce the price of imported commodities and products. In general, any freight once delivered in Zamyn-Uud will no longer be on hold for many days, and travel time of the freight train from Zamyn-Uud to Ulaanbaatar is 20 hours on average. The new railways to be built in Mongolia, which was included in the official document, “The State Policy to be Followed in Railway Transportation,” adopted in 2010, will reach the seaports via the railways of neighbouring countries. This is connected to the long-term objective of creating a universal network of railway and sea transportation. The government also plans to launch transport cooperation initiatives with leading countries in the sea transport field as well as to train national specialists and workers in that field.
Mongolia to buy three more planes
As a landlocked country, the airspace relations are considered as a leading policy issue in Mongolia. Under the framework of this policy, Mongolia plans to buy three planes from Boeing in 2013 and 2016. Their estimated total cost of 240 million USD will be completely paid by 2024 along with its interest. Mongolian airlines companies travel to 12 destinations in five countries. Domestically, we have 22 airports and three companies make the scheduled flights to 13 destinations. Around 240 flights of 80 companies from 54 countries pass through Mongolian airspace. Annually, there are approximately 80 thousand flights passing through Mongolia that carry around 20 million passengers.
The journalists asked the Road and Transportation Minister, A.Gansukh, the reason for Mongolian Airlines’ (MIAT) constant losses and wanted a response to questions about its management and structure. MIAT buys one ton of fuel at a cost of 1,700 USD, while the average price in the world market is 1,100 USD. Buying such expensive fuel leads MIAT to lose three billion MNT a year. The company will also be given a status as a national airline and the State will eventually own shares of 51 percent or above. A.Gansukh also announced that operational and structural reforms are being made at MIAT.
75 percent of total transport means are old
There are 563,887 means of transport officially registered in Mongolia and 75 percent of them have been used for more than ten years. There are 51 public transportation entities that serve 68 provincial destinations to 1.8 million passengers, while 2.4 million people are served by international airlines, according to Minister A.Gansukh.
The Minister of the Roads and Transportation also mentioned plans to improve the control and registration of road transport means and to establish a centre to monitor the traffic countrywide, introducing modern information technology applications. He also told reporters projects to build terminal centres in Zamyn-Uud and Ulaanbaatar which will meet international standards. He emphasised that the legal environment should be created to redevelop the law on auto transport and to introduce these international standards in Mongolia.
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