Metro stations to be built by 2020

 Trans. by B.NARANTUYA

It’s a tricky question whether cars or tortoises can go faster through Ulaanbaatar’s roads. Due to traffic congestion, people are spending too much time on the road, the vast amount of cars affects air and soil pollution, and people are affected negatively by pollution-related health issues. State officials are searching for different ways of getting out of this situation. Traffic congestion didn’t decrease even after the vehicle restriction system was implemented throughout the city. The only way to address the issue is to build metro stations. Most Asia-Pacific countries have included a metro in their public transportation system.
Having a metro for public transportation reduces the amount of noxious gas emissionsby up to 30 percent, reduces the number of car accidents which occur, gives citizens the opportunity to live in a healthy and safe environment, decreases traffic congestion by up to 16 percent, and increases the efficiency of vehicles on the road by 25 percent.
With support from the Japanese organization JICA, state officials of Mongolia started research on introducing a metro to the public transportation system in 2020. The project team stated that it needs seven years to add metro to the public transportation system. By 2030, the population of Ulaanbaatar will nearly double compared to the population of 2010, which was 1.1 million. It’s estimated that transportation demands will triple.

In March of 2013, when the research team introduced their report to the City Council, most of the representatives supported the project and a ceremony for the Ulaanbaatar Metro Project was held in June of that year. During the ceremony, City Mayor E.Bat-Uul stated, “Metro is one of the biggest creations that will play an important role in the development of our country. If we add a metro to the public transportation system, our country will become a modern developing country. We can even start to talk about organizing an Olympics in Mongolia.”
JICA and project organizers planned to build 14 stations from Tolgoit to Amgalan, with a distance of 800 to 1,500 meters between stations. It takes approximately one hour by bus to drive 17.7 km in the city, while it takes 20 to 30 minutes by metro. Also, metro has the capacity to transport 20,000 passengers an hour, which is five times more than the bus. The travel time between metro stations will be five minutes and a ticket will cost 500 to 600 MNT per trip.
By 2020, metro passengers in Ulaanbaatar are estimated to number at 300,000, while by 2030 the number will increase to 500,000, stated the project team. The Sapporo roundabout will be the most high-traffic area. Metro lanes are planned for underground and aboveground construction. Building a metro underground is expensive, however, it won’t affect the flow of vehicle traffic. If the metro station construction begins, it will create 156,000 new jobs.
It is estimated that 1.5 trillion MNT in funding is required for the construction of the metro. The Government of Japan has officially announced that it would help with a 600 million USD soft loan.
Along with the metro station construction, parking lots and service centers are planned to be built. Thus, it will affect the economy indirectly.
Metro stations in Ulaanbaatar are no longer a dream.

The following is an interview with Deputy Governor N.Gantumur about the Ulaanbaatar Metro Project.

It is possible that Ulaanbaatar will have metro stations by 2020. How is work going in the framework of the project?

In the first stage we asked Japan for an engineering loan, and the Japanese side is ready to loan 47 million USD. Tender will be announced in the fall of 2016. Thus, metro station construction work will begin in 2016. A joint team of three ministries from Japan will come to Mongolia this month to conduct a study.

How much money is planned for the construction of the metro stations?

From last year’s budget, three billion MNT overall is included. From the 2015 budget, state officials are considering including about 1.2 billion MNT. This will be spent for the working team. The Government of Japan is going to give a soft loan of 600 million USD. The duration of the loan’s repayment terms is 40 years.

Will the metro station be commissioned by 2020?

Even though our country is experiencing an economic recession, we are still planning to construct the metro station. Metro is the biggest kind of investment to bring up the economy. Many people will get jobs. It is estimated that the metro will contribute over 300 million USD in taxes to the state budget.

Travel between metro stations will be five minutes. How many metro trains will serve passengers?

It will be clear after the completion of a working plan. Two hundred million USD will be spent on the construction of the metro lanes. It will be four meters above the ground and 15 meters underground. Big complex emporiums will be built along EnkhtaivanAvenue.

Source: Unuudur

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Posted by The UB Post on Feb 5 2015. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.