Ulaanbaatar
Government ban on raw coal comes into effect from today
Society
Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. The Government resolution to ban the consumption of raw coal in the capital city has come into effect from today, May 15. Seeing the necessity to ban raw coal and replace it with refined coal, the Government made the resolution on February 28, 2018. With realization of these responsive actions, the air pollution is believed to be decreased by about 50 percent.
According
to the resolution, households, entities and organizations are banned to burn
raw coal beginning today, however thermal power
plants and power stations in the city are excluded from the ban.
A household that burns 4-5 tons of coal in heating season will consume two-fold
less refined coal, which is an economically beneficial alternative. Tests
confirmed that the refined fuel has twice higher caloric value than the raw coal,
alongside its twice longer combustion period.
Today, 60 thousand tons of refined fuel and 120 thousand tons
of raw materials are available. Packed in 25kg, 600kg, 900kg and a ton,
the refined coal started being sold at about 1000 sales points, with the sales
price of MNT 150 thousand per ton.
Introducing the refined coal
into home use is one of prompt measures. In parallel, policy actions are underway,
including the issuance of low-interest mortgage loans, introduction
of electric heaters and liquefied gas into use as well as housing projects.
The city’s annual consumption
of raw coal is 1.2 million tons, producing over 80 percent of total air pollution.
