AKIPRESS.COM - The Performance Monitoring Unit in charge of reducing air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, supporting infrastructure development projects and providing intersectoral coordination and prompt management held its regular meeting on January 25, Montsame reported.

At the meeting, a presentation was made on the road project to connect the Khushig Valley Tunnel with the Selbe Highway. Ulaanbaatar City is implementing several projects to mitigate traffic congestion, including the Tuul Highway, Bogd Khan Mountain Tunnel, and the Selbe Revival Project.

The Selbe Highway, starting from the intersection behind the Sonsgolon Bridge and connecting with the road of the Selbe subcenter, will be 25.2 kilometers long, have four lanes, and 15 intersections, and is expected to ensure horizontal flow without traffic lights. As the southern part of the Selbe Highway and the northern part of the Selbe Revival Project road overlap for 6.5 kilometers, the design needs to be revised. Several alternatives for connecting the roads at multiple levels and linking them with the Bogd Khan Mountain Tunnel have been proposed.

Representatives from the Ulaanbaatar Chamber of Commerce presented issues related to establishing a favorable legal environment for fostering public-private partnerships. In compiling the suggestions from over 150 organizations, they emphasized that it is necessary to ensure the equal protection of the interests of both domestic and foreign investors for the duration of the project, establish a system to protect the technology and business secrets of project initiators and implementers and develop a liability mechanism.

Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai instructed Chairman of the Cabinet Secretariat Uchral Nyam-Osor to collaborate with the Ulaanbaatar Chamber of Commerce in improving public-private partnerships and to align it with the Business Friendly program based on the experience of Bahrain. The Premier also informed the attendees to present these issues to the Cabinet meeting and ensure the relevant decisions are made.

In addition, members of the Performance Monitoring Unit proposed adopting the FIDIC (International Federation of Engineers) model contracts, making amendments to relevant laws to incorporate the four main principles of international procurement, passing the Law on Infrastructure Development, updating the technical requirements and standards for improved solid fuel, revising the procedures for evaluating and reporting air quality based on the Air Quality Index, and other suggestions.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai visited the construction site of the new central wastewater treatment plant of Ulaanbaatar, which is being built with concessional loans from China. The project is 95% complete and is scheduled to be commissioned in August 2025. In line with this project, technologies for wastewater recycling are being introduced, with 60% of the implementation completed. The recycling of the treated water will reduce underground water use for industrial purposes.