Road and mining ministers visit Gashuusukhait border crossing, highlighting need to address logjam

Minister of Mining D.Sumiyabazar and Minister of Roads and Transport J.Bat-Erdene visited the Gashuun Sukhait border crossing, where a 100-kilometer logjam has persisted since July as a result of tightened security from the Chinese side.

D.Sumiyabazar visited the border crossing as part of his three-day working visit to Umnugovi Province. The minister visited the site of the logjam and promised to take urgent action as he met with local authorities and representatives from mining companies and transport companies. The 100-kilometer queue has forced many drivers to live in their trucks and subside by purchasing food from vendors who have capitalized on the opportunity.

The Minister of Mining has said that Cabinet needs to sit at the negotiation table with China to address this issue. The issue of the logjam has been addressed to the Chinese Ambassador several times to no avail.

Until July 10, the border crossing passed through 1,200 to 1,500 trucks on a daily basis, but since July that number has dwindled down to 500 to 600.

As an alternative solution, D.Sumiyabazar proposed increasing the capacity of trucks crossing Gashuun Sukhait to 100 to 110 tons. Currently, the standard capacity of the trucks crossing into is 65 tons. As a result of the potential increase, the Minister of Mining says that even if only 500 trucks pass through Gashuun Sukhait daily, the volume of coal exports will increase by 40 to 50 percent.