Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The national committee on ensuring the urban and rural development balance, decentralizing and reducing traffic congestion is headed by Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene.

During the first meeting of the committee that took place last week, the Prime Minister tasked the officials to find possible short-term solutions to reduce traffic congestion. On August 30, in its framework, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene was introduced with 15 possible solutions that could be implemented for the short term in order to reduce the traffic congestion in Ulaanbaatar city.

The financial losses that accumulated in the last 10 years due to traffic congestion are estimated to be about MNT 11.8 trillion. With a recent study showing that eight percent of total productivity is lost due to the situation, 85 percent of the persons involved in the study answered that they believe that the capital city is seeing the worst traffic conditions. 

The working group has found that traffic could be reduced by 30 percent if the number of citizens using public transport increases by 50 percent. In its framework, they consider that certain measures such as renewing the buses being operated for public transport with investment from the state budget and public-private partnership, and introducing LRT, a type of public transport with large capacity for passengers, should be prioritized. By increasing the current number of 11 thousand students using school buses for their commute to 20 thousand, it would also be possible to reduce traffic by 2.5-2.7 percent. 

Furthermore, 91 percent of the state servants involved in the study have supported the suggestion to work remotely on one of the five workdays. With its implementation, the daily amount of vehicles on the road is estimated to decrease by 15-25 thousand.

One of the tasks given by the Prime Minister was to carry out a study on limiting the import of right hand drive vehicles. Following the completion of the study, the working group put forth suggestions to have 100 percent of the vehicles registered in the capital city to be left hand drive vehicles by 2028, to increase the import tax for vehicles that have been operated for more than 7 years starting from 2022, and to create favorable conditions for taking a loan to purchase a new vehicle. 

The working group’s suggestions for short-term solutions to reduce traffic also included the following:

• to introduce ‘Digital Certification’ for transport vehicles, 

• to extend the timetable for public transport, to have a new timetable that will be from 5.30 am to midnight, 

• to create car-free streets, 

• to create zones with no parking, 

• and to have more flexible work schedules for organizations. By implementing the 15 suggestions from the coming month, traffic is estimated to decrease by 13-18 percent.

Following the presentation, Secretary of the National Committee B.Odsuren told the Prime Minister that the working group will also soon introduce mid- and long-term solutions for tackling the issue.