The Director of the Architects’ Institute of Ulaanbaatar, Tsakhiur, today told a meeting of the Mayor’s Council about how the city can be developed as an international business center, favoring green tourism and ensuring better living conditions for its residents. Changing needs of changing times call for a radically new approach, he said, to solve the socio- economic problems of a city which shelters 40.6% of the total population of Mongolia but has to make do with dated and inadequate infrastructure, and faces ecological disaster.

Between 1999 and 2009, some 352,200 people from the provinces moved to Ulaanbaatar, most of them settling in ger districts where amenities are scarce and regulations few, he said. Any development plan for the city will have to address three priorities: development of the whole region around Ulaanbaatar, of the ever expanding suburban areas, and of the core city.

A significant part of the population will have to be settled in Tuv aimag, and provision made for employment, security of the environment, easy transportation, education and recreation, and supply of food and other necessities. Already there are plans to set up
campuses of institutes and universities in Shiveet of Nalaikh district, freight terminals, auto and railway routes and a new international airport at Khushigt in Tuv aimag.