E.BAT-UUL: GER AREAS MUST BE RE-PLANNED URGENTLY

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A re-planning of the city's ger (national dwelling) areas must be done in a first turn, otherwise, the problem might grow into a disaster, the city's authorities consider. The UB city Mayor Mr E.Bat-Uul said it at the Democratic Party's (DP) faction meeting Monday held open for the media for the first time. These ger areas have been scheduled to be re-planned in accordance with clarifications of the general plan of developing the UB city until 2020 and with a general plan of developing the city until 2030. In the last 12 years, the city's population increased 558 thousand, almost doubling against the previous years, and 56 percent increase resulted from the non-natural growth, he said. Fro the time being, about 586 thousand people, or 182.4 thousand families, live in the ger areas, an expansion of these areas has become the main factor of air and soil pollutions in the city. As estimated, a smog from the ger areas accounts for some 60 percent of the air pollution, vehicles' carbon emissions--20 percent, and emissions from boiler rooms and factories--20 percent, he went on. The city's soil severely polluted too, for example, eight out of 175 freshwater points along the river Tuul have became so polluted that have been put out of service, he said. Ulaanbaatar has become a one-centered city, meaning that all state and social centers are located right in the center, around the Sukhbaatar square, "of course, it triggers several problems such as traffic jam in the downtown, a lack of education service, of engineering pipelines and other services in the city's outskirts. Due to all this, different levels have emerged in the society," Mr Bat-Uul said. After the report, the faction clarified some details about the measures for solving the urgent problems of the city. B.Khuder