Should waste 8 billion MNT in the name of air pollution reduction?

Many are shocked at a proposal made by Cabinet on December 19 with regard to measures against air pollution.

In response to opposition to government measures for reducing air pollution from a non-government organization and some people on social media, Cabinet put forward a proposal to provide pregnant women and nursing mothers taking care of their children between the ages of zero and five with five-day free nursing at health resorts outside Ulaanbaatar.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers taking care of their children between the ages of zero and five, who are living in zones of air pollution level No. 1 to No. 4 and living below the household living condition standard with a social welfare score of 409, would be to receive a free five-day stay at 29 accredited health resorts in winter.

According to a report conducted by the government, 10,600 pregnant women and nearly 35,000 mothers with 65,000 children between the ages of zero and five would be provided with the government funded stay at a resort targeted toward women and children.

This proposal has been not approved by the government so far, but Cabinet will hold a non-regular meeting on December 21 to review the proposal again.

If the majority of Cabinet ministers accept this proposal, a government resolution will be issued, and eight billion MNT will be spent for carrying out this decision.

Everybody agrees that air pollution level across Ulaanbaatar, one of the most polluted cities in the world, has reached an alarming level, and city residents have been at a great risk of diseases and sicknesses caused by air pollution for the past two decades.

All the previous governments have made numerous attempts to reduce air pollution, but they couldn’t find an effective solution to address this long-standing, challenging issue.

So far, 489.6 billion MNT has been spent by the state and Ulaanbaatar city as well as from loans and non-refundable aids from international organizations to reduce Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution over the past two decades, which is too much money for “poor” Mongolia.

If we had built 40 square meter apartments through that money, almost 15,000 households could have been provided with new apartments, which would have had a positive impact on reducing air pollution in Ulaanbaatar.

Back to the government’s proposal, imagine how many apartments we can build with eight billion MNT?

Through eight billion MNT, the government can build an apartment for more than 200 households or build eight kindergartens, or fund eco-friendly houses for 260 households designed by Mongolian engineers.

Many people criticize the government for making this “terrible” decision, and some say this decision shows that the government has no long-term policy regarding air pollution in Ulaanbaatar.

The prime minister and Cabinet ministers claim that the government will not support proposals or projects to turn air pollution challenges into business opportunities, but in reality, they are making a decision against their promises.

A Mongolian researcher working abroad noted that the main reason why air pollution still exists in Mongolia at such a high level is due to policy failure, and the biggest problem we have is that each government proposes a new policy to reduce air pollution and none continue the previous government’s good policies.

The researcher says that Mongolia needs a consistent strong policy for reducing air pollution which isn't subject to arbitrary ideas. Therefore, Parliament must take the issue seriously and form a robust policy toward air pollution reduction so that each government must carry out this policy for a duration of at least 15 or 20 years. A long-term approach is the only way to tackle the persistent and growing problem of air pollution threatening Ulaanbaatar residents.