Citizens of Khovd aimag are happy with spending 4-5 hours on the road where it used to require two days before. What is more, paved road between Khovd aimag and the border with China was built with financing of the Government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Exim Bank and was put into operation three years ago.

ADB Country Director for Mongolia Yolanda Fernandez Lommen visited the aimag last week to familiarize with how local people are benefitting from the road that connected north and south borders of Mongolia.

Within the framework of Western Regional Road Corridor Investment Program, 404 km of paved road out of 740 km was built with funding of the ADB. Thanks to the paved road the citizens began to benefit by saving their time, promptly receiving medical services, getting rid of technical damages in vehicles and profiting from their businesses. It also helps expand international trade and economic cooperation. The world-standard auto road with guardrails, flood protection dam, rest areas and road signs could be model infrastructure in road sector of Mongolia.

Ms. Yolanda Fernandez Lommen said that the paved road developed in Khovd aimag, center of the western region, commissioned in 2015. The ADB funded it with about USD 200 million. Construction of roads and buildings run for a short period of time in Mongolia due to the extreme weather conditions. Furthermore, Khovd aimag is a rocky and mountainous area and flooding and natural factors caused much obstacle in the road construction. I am delightful that Mongolia now has a road that satisfies international standard. It is a special road as it gives benefits not only to Mongolia but also other countries.

Citizens of Khovd aimag shared their impression on the new paved road.

Citizen of Bichigt bag (smallest administration unit) of Jargalant soum B.Jantsan noted that the road is not only fruitful for Mongolia also for Russia and China. Prior to having the new road, only UAZ-469, Russian made van and heavy trucks used to travel. Whereas the new road provides us with opportunity to travel by passenger car. Our soum is truly developing in keeping with the road. It brought many achievements to our life such as receiving medical services directly and catching a bus between Khovd and Ulaanbaatar city without going to the aimag center. Our bag locates 210 km from the aimag center and now it takes just two hours to reach there. Road quality is in good condition and we should pay attention on road maintenance further.

Whereas Citizen of Mankhan soum Kh.Tsendee shared her impression by saying that the paved road built with finance of the ADB is making much contribution to our life. It has been facilitating our work and eases life. Our family runs canteen, grocery and tire repairing service along the road. Before, a few of people used to receive our service, but more people get to receive our service due to increased passenger flow thanks to the new road and now our profit has been risen. Therefore, I am expressing my gratitude to all people who built the new road and made investment to the construction.

Altai soum of Khovd aimag has a population of 3219 or 808 households. More than 200 citizens of the soum were employed for assistant works of the road construction. In order to extend life of the road, the soum authorities intend to establish the road capacity control zone and reflected it in the landuse plan. The control zone will allow to control all vehicles travelling on the road. Ore transport from Naranbulag soum of Uvs aimag pass through here and we will put control on heavy trucks transporting 24-26 tons of freight. This movement will be stopped and we will focus our attention on road maintenance and protection, talked N.Burged, Head of Citizens Representatives Khural of Altai soum of Khovd aimag.
Such as this, citizens spoke about how the road built within Western Regional Road Corridor Investment Program leads them to the development.

Moreover, road construction process of the phase II project with funding of the ADB is running at about 90 percent performance reported specialist at advisory team of Western Regional Road Corridor Investment Program Ch.Enkhjargal.

Within the scope of the phase II project, 53.9 km of paved road from Khovd aimag to Shurga’s bridge is being built by HKB International Holding LLC. A total of 280 machineries and vehicles and over 400 workers were mobilized for the road construction work. Whereas 50 km of paved road from Shurga’s bridge to Khashaatiin Davaa pass is being developed by China Huashi Enterprises Limited LLC and being monitored by Indian-Mongolian joint ICT Company. Currently, Mongolia has a road network of about 48,538 km, but only about 13.2 per cent are paved—a situation that affects the country’s growth prospects, particularly on jobs, trade, and connectivity. The road project and its attached technical assistance prove that it improves Mongolia’s road asset management practices. and investment in road improvement and maintenance is crucial as it creates jobs, provides people with better connectivity and access to markets and public services such as schools and hospitals, and improves road safety.

Published Date:2018-10-29