Mongolian Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Board of the MCA-Mongolia, S.Batbold, and the US Ambassador to Mongolia, Jonathan Addleton announced the decision at a press conference, which took place at the Parliament House on December 10. Within the frame work of the road project, a road between Choir and Sainshand which will cover 176.4 km will be built, and also a road between Ulaanbaatar and Nalaikh will be repaired.
The “Clean air” project will be supported by using wind power in Mongolia and establishing a fund to develop “Clean” technology in order to combat air pollution in Ulaanbaatar. Wind energy as a power source is attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels, because it is plentiful, renewable, widely distributable, clean, and produces no greenhouse gas emissions.
“Approving those two new projects by the Board of the MCC means that the comprehensive partnership between Mongolia and the USA is implemented in all sectors successfully and it would be an Acknowledgement of Mongolian Democracy. The Mongolian government will do its best to implement the Mongolia Compact in the remaining period, which has three years and 10 months remaining” said the Prime Minister S.Batbold at the press conference.
“Mongolia is a good partner of the MCC. The Board of the MCC has decided to reallocate the funds of the cancelled Rail Project and will always enjoy helping Mongolia to develop its economy” said US Ambassador Jonathan Addleton.
In addition, The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Board of Directors has approved an allocation of US$50 million to the three ongoing projects under the Mongolia Compact: Health, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, and Peri-urban Rangeland Management. The expansion of these projects will benefit thousands of Mongolians, who will gain access to health care, job training, and land rights for herding and agriculture.
During the September. 9 meeting, the MCC Board of Directors, chaired by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reviewed a number of issues for their information and approval, including the restructuring of the US$285 million Mongolia Compact following the cancellation of the US$188 million Rail project. The meeting confirmed that approximately US$50 million will be reallocated from the canceled Rail project to the expansion of the remaining projects – Health, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, and the Peri-urban rangeland management component of the Property Rights project.
The expansion of these projects is anticipated to provide significant additional benefits to Mongolians, including (i) up to 15 more aimags participating in the Health project’s efforts to combat non-communicable diseases and injuries; (ii) up to US$15 million of additional equipment and training for TVET institutions to increase the capacity and quality of vocational education; and (iii) up to 310,000 hectares of additional land to be provided to herders for improved herding and agriculture. These projects are currently underway and will be completed by September 2013.
In the meeting of the Board on June 10, 2009, the Rail project’s cancellation and the decision by MCC management to evaluate the Government of Mongolia’s proposals for its replacement was presented. This followed the Government of Mongolia’s notification to MCC in April 2009, of its desire to cease the implementation of the Rail project, due to circumstances beyond its control, and to reallocate the $188 million from that project to the remaining projects, as well as to certain new projects.
Through the summer, working together with groups from the relevant Mongolian Government, Ministries and with MCA-Mongolia, MCC conducted its own evaluation of the Mongolian Government’s proposals for the expansion projects and new projects. After MCC approved the expansion of the current projects, MCC made the decision to implement those new projects.
