Ulaanbaatar
Measures introduced to reduce Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution
Society
At the meeting, J.Bayasgalan, Ulaanbaatar city’s deputy governor in charge of green development and air pollution, introduced some measures being/to be taken on reducing air pollution. J.Bayasgalan said that some 202,000 households, 2724 steam boilers of 11-100kW and 321 steam boilers with over 101kW capacity emit smokes in Ulaanbaatar. "As stated in the National Program on reducing air pollution, 228 steam boilers with capacity of over 101kW must be closed. Today, 45 steam boilers have been closed and 56 users, including schools, kindergarten, military services that used to receive heats from them have been connected to central heating network."
Teachers of schools and kindergartens, health workers of hospitals and students are being involved in a regular training on reducing internal air pollution and prevention. In 2017, 1413 air purifiers were installed in 93 kindergartens, 26 general educational schools and children’s ward and intensive care wards of 12 hospitals, for which MNT1.1 billion was spent from the Ulaanbaatar city budget and funding of the World Bank.
As a part of actions to reduce air pollution of Ulaanbaatar city, the Mongolian government approved last year a regulation to zero nighttime tariff of electricity for ger area households. Last year’s nighttime electricity incentive that was effective from January to March involved 114,512 users of ger districts, resulting in 5-8 percent decline of PM2.5, PM10 and SO2 levels in the air. Moreover, 15 percent of the households who benefited from electricity tariff incentive were reportedly using electrical heaters. The measure is continuing this winter.
Under the ordinance, dated December 27 2017, of the Governor of capital city, the term of migration ban from rural areas to Ulaanbaatar city has been extended until 2020.
M. Unurzul
