Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. An extended meeting of the cabinet of ministers was organized on May 19, Wednesday. At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene delivered remarks on his proposals made at the parliamentary session soon after taking the office. 

After forming his cabinet in January 2021, the Prime Minister has pledged to ensure balanced urban and rural development, reorganize regional development principles, take comprehensive measures aimed at reducing urban congestion and gradually resolve issues related to public transit and infrastructure needed for proposed satellite cities. Today’s extended meeting focused on the aforementioned proposals. 

During the meeting, Minister of Finance B. Javkhlan was given an order to earmark not less than MNT 420 billion to each annual state budget between 2022 and 2024 with a view to reduce traffic congestion. Relevant ministers were also charged to include foreign loans and assistances and actions aimed at tackling traffic jam and improving public transit service quality into the Government’s investment program, and establish agreements and contracts. 

The earmarked budget funding will be spent on a comprehensive sets of measures, including road development and extensions and refurbishment, car parks, highways and other road infrastructure and public transit parking lot. In addition, new projects for public transport with better efficiency and capacity will be implemented this year using any funding sources available. 

According to studies on the Ulaanbaatar city’s traffic movement presented by Mayor D. Sumiyabazar at the meeting, it takes approximately 10 minutes to travel just 1 km in Ulaanbaatar city by a car and 78 percent of the city’s auto roads are considered to have traffic congestion. Average citizen spends 2.5 hours in a day and 35 days in a year sitting in traffic. Around MNT 2.7 trillion is estimated as costs caused by traffic congestion in the city and the number is likely to grow to MNT 24 trillion by 2025 if the situation persists. As highlighted by the Mayor, auto roads and traffic movement in Ulaanbaatar can be rated as ‘the worst’ or of ‘disaster level’.

Number of plans have been formulated to reduce the traffic congestion, including the Bogdkhan Railway Bypass Line project, projects to enhance basic infrastructure, road network and public transportation and develop satellite cities and sub-centers. 

By 2024, around 500-1,000 eco-friendly buses will be running on roads, 290 public transit parks will become refurbished and parking lots with 5,000-vehicle capacity will be newly built. Moreover, 6 tunnels, 6 crossroads, 7 bridges, 98 km-long pedestrian sidewalks and 249 km bike paths will be added, upgraded or expanded in the city. Thanks to the measures, the traffic congestion is expected to decrease by half within 2024, as introduced at the meeting.