Ulaanbaatar, January 8, 2025 /MONTSAME/. The Government of Mongolia has declared 2025 as the "Year to Support the Development of Infrastructure of Ulaanbaatar City" and intends to take immediate measures to solve the most pressing issues in Ulaanbaatar including air pollution and traffic congestion.

Prime Minister of Mongolia Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and members of the newly established Performance Monitoring Unit visited the eastern plant of the “Tavantolgoi Fuel” company on January 7, 2025.

As part of improving briquette technology, from March 1 this year the briquettes that use imported middling grade coal will be replaced with improved fuel produced from the top layer concentrate coal from the “Erdenes Tavantolgoi” company’s plant. According to tests comparing the current middling coal with the top layer concentrate coal, using the latter type resulted in a 33.7 percent decrease in particulate matter emissions, a 63.7 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide emission, and a 39 percent increase in carbon monoxide. In other words, the binding material for briquettes will be replaced, and a "green coal" product will be added to the sifted coal, improving the quality of the briquette fuel. The Mayor of Ulaanbaatar explained that standards for briquettes and binder material will be updated.

In addition, as instructed by the Prime Minister, a draft law on actions for air and environmental pollution reduction in Ulaanbaatar has been formulated and is to be submitted soon to the Government and the State Great Khural for approval. With the legal framework in place, all smoke generators, including 198 thousand stoves in ger districts, more than 500 thousand vehicles, more than 2,200 low-pressure boilers, 174 furnaces, and thermal power plants will be regulated. The implementation of the law will enable 30 percent of each source of emissions to switch to gas fuel annually, 1,300 buses in service to gas fuel, and the establishment of special regime zones in the capital city to reduce the negative impact of air and environmental pollution on society and economy, protect the health of citizens, and ensure the right to live in a healthy and safe environment.

Special regime zones are classified as green and yellow zones, and households in the green zone will be switched to liquefied gas fuel /LNG, LPG/ that meets standards. This zone is planned to cover about 202 thousand citizens from 50,189 households in 48,118 units of area. The green or chimney-free zone will be expanded and updated each time by the Governor of the Capital City. The regulations also include the restriction on environmental pollution emissions, for instance, prohibiting vehicles that emit air pollutants exceeding the permissible emission levels in the zone, and not selling gasoline and diesel fuel below Euro 5 standards.

The yellow zone is estimated to cover more than 147 thousand households, providing them with standard-compliant double-combustion stoves. The tender for the first round of 32 thousand stoves will be announced this month. In the future, a total of 95 thousand households will be involved in an insulation project and provided with standard-compliant double-combustion stoves.

CEO of “Erdenes Mongol” Narantsogt Sanjaa presented the "Blue Coal" project of the coal-pyrolysis plant, which is a part of the Coal and Chemical Complex to be built based on the Baganuur coal mine. This project is one of the Government’s 14 mega projects. The first part of the USD 190 million plant is planned to be put into operation in December of this year and fully completed in 2027. The “Blue Coal” project is estimated to reduce the capital's emissions by 60-80 percent and generate 100 MW of energy.

The Performance Monitoring Unit established under the Prime Minister will convene every Saturday.