S.Ochirbat: The main plan for Mongolian roads will be clear by 2050
The director of ICT Sain Consulting, S.Ochirbat, spoke to the website VIP76 regarding the future development of Mongolia’s roads. He has been working for almost 38 years in the roads sector and has been chosen four times as the director of road systems.
-What is the tendency of developing the roads sector of our country? Nowadays, the reform government is talking about roads connecting the centers of all aimags.
-In the central planning period the budget was usually centered on construction and developing manufacturing sectors. The leftover money was used to dedicated to building roads. Our sector has been working for 84 years, and for half of these years, the main system of roads didn’t develop well because of insufficient budgets. Also, road transport was less too.
From 1989-1990 there were even plans to expand the roads for five years, but during that time the Russian Soviet government was corrupted and the plan was canceled. Then, from 1993-1994, when I was the director of the road sector, we thought about one thing. During this hard period, when we used to buy staples with ration cards, how could we retain and not lose our road sector. We tried, and fully transferred the development of roads during the privatization period. Later, in 1992, I started to write about the law of roads, and in 1998 it was signed by parliament. So, now you see how we developed our own law of roads.
-The signing of the law of roads took six years. Why did it take so long?
-From history: in 1989 in the magazine of the East Asian Economic Forum, Korean pastor Sun Myung Moon’s publicity appealed me. He talked about to broadening and connecting the transit roads between South and North Korea, Mongolia and China. On this road he imagined there was a way to Europe with 100 meter depth roads. It was called the “International Highway Project” and it seems to me that it was similar to our “Millennium Roads” project today.
In the 1996 election, General Council Member of the Mongolian National Democratic Party, M.Enkhsaikhan, was elected to the position of the Prime Minister, and the Mongolian National Democratic Party and Mongolian Social Democrat Party made up the government with a 50:50 ratio.
Actually, the inherited government used to understand that roads were very important and were setting big goals. In 1998, when Enkhsaikhan was in a government, he planned to connect roads from Ulaanbaatar to the eastern areas. Even though there was snow on the ground, he pushed us by planning the roads and doing some blueprints. But the next year, that government collapsed.
After that, in 2000, when the Mongolian Revolutionary Party was elected, they signed and started to implement the Millennium Roads project. During that time, political interests were stronger than special interests, so it was called “Myanguujin Roads”. Also, it was not about whether it was going to work or not because of some inexpedient road system.
In 2004, when I became as director, I made some changes. But the Millennium Roads project gave us something to consider about the impact of roads in the infrastructure sector. Even today, this project is still running.
The reform government is planning to connect the centers of all aimags with Ulaanbaatar to build the framework of the road system, or a skeleton for the roads. In other words, the country’s main roads are like human arteries. In many international road systems, the main roads are referred to as artery roads.
-Even big goals were mentioned. What’s the probability of reaching these sectors? How can we improve them?
-Everyone has their own opinion. The members of a parliament once said that Mongolian leaders would never be able to build roads. On one hand, it seems like a big criticism for us, but on the other hand we are developing and gaining more experience.
Many companies were given many chances to do this. Actually, there are about 400 companies which have special permissions; only 40 of them are performing active operations. If we support and improve the activities of these companies, they could be further developed. The main restrictions are budget and human resources; we don’t have any technical problems. As we can see from this year’s construction, the government assigned tender bids that were scattered across the power processing sector. Instead of this, they should import good, skilled management, and then these projects would succeed. Poor organization is because of the inability of the person who pulls it together.
-On one hand, it is sad that professional and unprofessional companies are doing their work only for money and blemishing the reputation of road builders. On the other hand, the customer is the government and we need roads that meet at least basic standards. So, what are the problems of small companies that keep them from success?
-If they had the chance to succeed, the problem is that there are not enough steady operations to sustain them. Even if they had the budget and enough specialists, it is not clear that in following years they could get more work. So the government should pay attention to these companies and their steady working processes. The government doesn’t have any guarantees for this situation now. For example, when the government supports only a few companies, it tries to bring some down because of political interests. The executives of some companies are members of parliament. And also, the structure of the outlying road sector is still problematic.
This year’s projects were late because of two ministry misunderstandings. Under Chinggis Bond funding, the Ministry of Economic Development and Ministry of Roads and Transportation started to respond. They disagreed, even though they said at a conference that they would co-operate. In reality it was not true. A clear example of eyewitness evidence: in February they had to sign an agreement with road companies, but only after six months did they start working.
It is not clear what they really want to do. Actually, they are all are abusing the executors of the project, so everyone should be concerned about controlling the problem. Even after being given special and important counsel, they still can’t solve the problem.
The Outdoor Project is still a tricky situation too. Roads in the capital are disconnected from things they should be connected to. In this regard, these things don’t have any reason to be cut off. For example, there was confusion about the Outdoor Project when it was decided that the concrete bridge to Sonsgolon would be mapped. When the company did it, we found out that a map of a bridge had already been done a few years before in plans for the roads of the capital.
The mechanisms are wrong. In my opinion, we should abolish state management of the roads of the capital and give this work to Outdoors, or it should be managed entirely by the state. If we don’t solve this problem then we will be faced with it next year.
-Is there any chance of sorting out the companies? It’s terrible that road construction worker’s salaries are unstable. We shouldn’t forget that this is someone’s livelihood, right?
-The Ministry can’t organize the work well. The existing road to Khuvsgul is 100 kilometers and it is separated between four companies working on 25 kilometers each. This means that each company has to oversee groups in each section, causing costs to rise. So, it is detrimental to both the company and the customer.
Instead of this, we can build quality roads by giving the job to only one lead company and others will work as executors doing other work like building barriers, construction models, bases and asphalt.
-How do you see the future of our country’s road system as an important key to development? What should we do after we have our main roads?
-Statistically speaking, our country has 49,000 kilometers of road in all. Sadly, this is false information. About 40-50 thousand kilometers is not stated in that account. It accounts for 49,000 kilometers including rural roads. Actually it is the distance accounting for roads to the center of aimags. If we count the roads which go onwards from soum to bag and include agronomy roads, the total is 100,000 kilometers.
I’m doing research on rural roads. I think until 2016, our capital’s roads will be connected to the centers of all aimags.
After that, we have to pay attention to the roads between the aimags. Nowadays, worldwide, many countries are paying special attention to rural roads. Because all useful products are from rural areas, transportation systems should be safe, more substantial and faster.
No matter what, from 2016-2040, the state and government will be working on rural roads. In that time, research and standardized information will be needed, so that’s why I’m working on it now.
The main plan for Mongolian roads will be clear by 2050. Now we are in the process of making a skeleton of it.
Before interstate roads, we have to talk about international transit roads. We have many exits. We can connect with Europe by working with our neighbors China and Russia. When transit road questions arise, today’s roads will be rejected. We road builders have much work to do.
Short URL: http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=6546
-What is the tendency of developing the roads sector of our country? Nowadays, the reform government is talking about roads connecting the centers of all aimags.
-In the central planning period the budget was usually centered on construction and developing manufacturing sectors. The leftover money was used to dedicated to building roads. Our sector has been working for 84 years, and for half of these years, the main system of roads didn’t develop well because of insufficient budgets. Also, road transport was less too.
From 1989-1990 there were even plans to expand the roads for five years, but during that time the Russian Soviet government was corrupted and the plan was canceled. Then, from 1993-1994, when I was the director of the road sector, we thought about one thing. During this hard period, when we used to buy staples with ration cards, how could we retain and not lose our road sector. We tried, and fully transferred the development of roads during the privatization period. Later, in 1992, I started to write about the law of roads, and in 1998 it was signed by parliament. So, now you see how we developed our own law of roads.
-The signing of the law of roads took six years. Why did it take so long?
-From history: in 1989 in the magazine of the East Asian Economic Forum, Korean pastor Sun Myung Moon’s publicity appealed me. He talked about to broadening and connecting the transit roads between South and North Korea, Mongolia and China. On this road he imagined there was a way to Europe with 100 meter depth roads. It was called the “International Highway Project” and it seems to me that it was similar to our “Millennium Roads” project today.
In the 1996 election, General Council Member of the Mongolian National Democratic Party, M.Enkhsaikhan, was elected to the position of the Prime Minister, and the Mongolian National Democratic Party and Mongolian Social Democrat Party made up the government with a 50:50 ratio.
Actually, the inherited government used to understand that roads were very important and were setting big goals. In 1998, when Enkhsaikhan was in a government, he planned to connect roads from Ulaanbaatar to the eastern areas. Even though there was snow on the ground, he pushed us by planning the roads and doing some blueprints. But the next year, that government collapsed.
After that, in 2000, when the Mongolian Revolutionary Party was elected, they signed and started to implement the Millennium Roads project. During that time, political interests were stronger than special interests, so it was called “Myanguujin Roads”. Also, it was not about whether it was going to work or not because of some inexpedient road system.
In 2004, when I became as director, I made some changes. But the Millennium Roads project gave us something to consider about the impact of roads in the infrastructure sector. Even today, this project is still running.
The reform government is planning to connect the centers of all aimags with Ulaanbaatar to build the framework of the road system, or a skeleton for the roads. In other words, the country’s main roads are like human arteries. In many international road systems, the main roads are referred to as artery roads.
-Even big goals were mentioned. What’s the probability of reaching these sectors? How can we improve them?
-Everyone has their own opinion. The members of a parliament once said that Mongolian leaders would never be able to build roads. On one hand, it seems like a big criticism for us, but on the other hand we are developing and gaining more experience.
Many companies were given many chances to do this. Actually, there are about 400 companies which have special permissions; only 40 of them are performing active operations. If we support and improve the activities of these companies, they could be further developed. The main restrictions are budget and human resources; we don’t have any technical problems. As we can see from this year’s construction, the government assigned tender bids that were scattered across the power processing sector. Instead of this, they should import good, skilled management, and then these projects would succeed. Poor organization is because of the inability of the person who pulls it together.
-On one hand, it is sad that professional and unprofessional companies are doing their work only for money and blemishing the reputation of road builders. On the other hand, the customer is the government and we need roads that meet at least basic standards. So, what are the problems of small companies that keep them from success?
-If they had the chance to succeed, the problem is that there are not enough steady operations to sustain them. Even if they had the budget and enough specialists, it is not clear that in following years they could get more work. So the government should pay attention to these companies and their steady working processes. The government doesn’t have any guarantees for this situation now. For example, when the government supports only a few companies, it tries to bring some down because of political interests. The executives of some companies are members of parliament. And also, the structure of the outlying road sector is still problematic.
This year’s projects were late because of two ministry misunderstandings. Under Chinggis Bond funding, the Ministry of Economic Development and Ministry of Roads and Transportation started to respond. They disagreed, even though they said at a conference that they would co-operate. In reality it was not true. A clear example of eyewitness evidence: in February they had to sign an agreement with road companies, but only after six months did they start working.
It is not clear what they really want to do. Actually, they are all are abusing the executors of the project, so everyone should be concerned about controlling the problem. Even after being given special and important counsel, they still can’t solve the problem.
The Outdoor Project is still a tricky situation too. Roads in the capital are disconnected from things they should be connected to. In this regard, these things don’t have any reason to be cut off. For example, there was confusion about the Outdoor Project when it was decided that the concrete bridge to Sonsgolon would be mapped. When the company did it, we found out that a map of a bridge had already been done a few years before in plans for the roads of the capital.
The mechanisms are wrong. In my opinion, we should abolish state management of the roads of the capital and give this work to Outdoors, or it should be managed entirely by the state. If we don’t solve this problem then we will be faced with it next year.
-Is there any chance of sorting out the companies? It’s terrible that road construction worker’s salaries are unstable. We shouldn’t forget that this is someone’s livelihood, right?
-The Ministry can’t organize the work well. The existing road to Khuvsgul is 100 kilometers and it is separated between four companies working on 25 kilometers each. This means that each company has to oversee groups in each section, causing costs to rise. So, it is detrimental to both the company and the customer.
Instead of this, we can build quality roads by giving the job to only one lead company and others will work as executors doing other work like building barriers, construction models, bases and asphalt.
-How do you see the future of our country’s road system as an important key to development? What should we do after we have our main roads?
-Statistically speaking, our country has 49,000 kilometers of road in all. Sadly, this is false information. About 40-50 thousand kilometers is not stated in that account. It accounts for 49,000 kilometers including rural roads. Actually it is the distance accounting for roads to the center of aimags. If we count the roads which go onwards from soum to bag and include agronomy roads, the total is 100,000 kilometers.
I’m doing research on rural roads. I think until 2016, our capital’s roads will be connected to the centers of all aimags.
After that, we have to pay attention to the roads between the aimags. Nowadays, worldwide, many countries are paying special attention to rural roads. Because all useful products are from rural areas, transportation systems should be safe, more substantial and faster.
No matter what, from 2016-2040, the state and government will be working on rural roads. In that time, research and standardized information will be needed, so that’s why I’m working on it now.
The main plan for Mongolian roads will be clear by 2050. Now we are in the process of making a skeleton of it.
Before interstate roads, we have to talk about international transit roads. We have many exits. We can connect with Europe by working with our neighbors China and Russia. When transit road questions arise, today’s roads will be rejected. We road builders have much work to do.
Short URL: http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=6546
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