With one of the world's fastest growing economies, the true test will be how such growth benefits the people. In Mongolia's capital, we may just find out.
Mongolia enters 2013 as one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with forecasters predicting GDP growth of 18-20 percent. Driven by a boom in mining revenues, the impact of this growth is clearly visible in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar, where expensive office high rises, modern apartment buildings, and luxury stores are now common sights. While the capital’s elite and wealthy are enjoying the benefits of this boom, more than half of the city’s 1.2 million still live without access to even basic public services in the “ger” areas that are spread around the city.
“Ger” literally means home in Mongolian and refers to the round, felt tents that have been part of the traditional Mongolian nomadic lifestyle for centuries. Over the last two decades, since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the socialist regime in Mongolia, a steady stream of migrants have left harsh conditions in the countryside to seek better access to jobs, services, and education in the cities. Ulaanbaatar has, by far, absorbed the largest numbers of these migrants and with little affordable housing available, most of the newcomers ultimately settle in the ger areas.
In 1989, 26.8 percent of Mongolia’s population lived in Ulaanbaatar; by 2006 that number had risen to 38.1 percent; and by the 2010 census, 45 percent of Mongolia’s population lived in the capital. Looking forward, population growth in the capital city is expected to continue at the same pace.
While the majority of ger area residents are poor, living standards vary, with some residents earning a decent income but still unable to afford the high prices of new apartments elsewhere in the city. According to Mongolian property law, Mongolian nationals are allowed to claim unused land and obtain ownership over land they live on. In that respect, the ger areas are therefore different from illegal slum settlements in other parts of the world.
Living conditions in the ger areas are harsh, especially during winters. [Watch a field video about winter in Mongolia.] Basic infrastructure such as paved roads, water and sewage systems, electricity, and central heating are lacking. A central feature of the ger is the stove, which is used not only for cooking but also as the primary source of heating. During winter, residents use large amounts of coal as well as other materials, including trash, to fuel the stove, resulting in a black layer of pollution that covers the city. While air pollution levels in winter are the highest of any capital city in the world, coal is unlikely to be replaced as a source of heating due to its relatively low cost. According to the World Bank, unemployment among ger residents is around 62 percent compared to 21 percent in apartment areas.
Dealing with the ramifications of such large settlements in unplanned locations and effectively delivering services to all the city’s residents, particularly in Mongolia’s extreme weather conditions, has been, and will remain, a massive challenge. This is exacerbated by the low density settlement patterns in the ger districts which means any service connections need to be spread over greater distances. These factors significantly increase the cost of delivering essential urban services such as water, electricity, waste management, and transportation. Development organizations have been providing technical and financial assistance for the improvement of basic infrastructure and services in the ger areas for years, resulting in important improvements. But the vast size of the areas makes it difficult to have a decisive impact, especially without good planning and coordinated responses from different city agencies.
Under Ulaanbaatar’s new leadership, changes for the ger areas may come faster than expected. Appointed by the prime minister in August 2012, the new city mayor, Erdene Bat-Uul, has made a clear commitment to the redevelopment of the ger areas. Adjustments to Ulaanbaatar’s City Master Plan are already being made with plans extending until 2030, and the mayor has developed an action plan for the next three years as well. The plans aim to improve the distribution of services such as water, sewage, and electricity to existing ger areas, and involve the local residents themselves in the process. Mayor Bat-Uul has also introduced changes to the city’s administrative structure, most notably creating a development agency and housing unit. The mayor’s office is currently working with international development banks and other agencies on multi-million dollar urban planning and infrastructure projects for the ger areas.
In December, The Asia Foundation launched a partnership, supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), with the mayor’s office to establish 10 ger units called the Ger Area Units, to serve as a bridge between the mayor’s office and the ger residents. The units have been designed to be catalysts for change in the ger areas they are assigned to, working with service delivery agencies to extend basic services based on the needs and expectations of local residents, and supporting the mayor’s redevelopment plans through advocacy and engagement with local communities. They will also work closely to support ger area residents to raise their concerns and needs directly to the mayor’s office, while also assisting communities to organize themselves to plan and implement community-driven activities to improve living conditions. To start this partnership effort, the Foundation organized a series of workshops with the senior leadership of the Ulaanbaatar municipal government as well as with the heads of the ger area units to help identify the key priorities, functions, and responsibilities of the units.
With a front-line position in the city’s efforts to improve life in the ger areas, the Ger Area Units will be crucial to the mayor’s vision for the city. Essentially part of the city administration, they will need to effectively establish themselves as allies and partners to both the residents of the ger district and the mayor’s efforts. How Mongolia manages its rapid and unplanned urbanization will be vital in determining the success of Mongolia in spreading the benefits of its rapid growth to all its citizens.
Ariunaa Norovsambuu and Tirza Theunissen are program coordinator and program and operations manager, respectively, for The Asia Foundation in Mongolia, and Mark Koenig is the Foundation’s assistant director for Governance and Law. They can be reached at ariunaa@asiafound.org, ttheunissen@asiafound.org, and mkoenig@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and not those of The Asia Foundation.
Photo Credit: flickr (ssppeeddyy)
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Elizabeth Charlie
I think Mongolia is going to face or facing "poor capitalism." Capitalism is good in a way it helps people to generate wealth, "if they can". If they can means, if they know or are knowledgeable, or educated to the level of how to or what to do with what they have as an opportunity. In Mongolian situation, with the fastest economic growth and ever-increasing wealth, the education of its every single citizen is crucial for its "true" social and economic development. What i would like to say is that the pace of the ecomonic growth should be equal to the education level of every citizen. So it would be smart for Mongolia to support its education system from bottom to top regardless of citizens' age, education amd gender. However, it does not necessarily mean to give them cash to study, rather it means to build proper education environment for schools and universities and create jobs that award those who are involved in some kind of educating activities.
In the long run, with the education and smart people I believe the corruption is highly possible to be curbed. If one knows what to do and how to find better ways without a little cost, he or she does not need to corrupt or bribe someone. And "right" educated people tend to be very ethical and moral in pursuing their will. So Mongolia also needs to pay attention to theri people's education whether they are young or old.
Erik Schneider
I like this site but it would be nice if you expanded your share options so bloggers could share your articles. And you could expand your distribution and publicity.
Kim’s Uncle
That’s cool that Mongolia was the first Asian country to throw off the shackles of Marxism Leninism ! It shows how independent the rulers of Mongolia are while china still have the old style ussr dictatorship which they copy like a good copycat!
Lady Sang-Hwa
Again, Chinese wumaoers are roaming this blog as usual but how come I don't see any of them on commenting on the article about water quality in China. Why?
John Chan
@Lady Sang-Hwa,
Chinese bloggers are here to protest when China is portrayed unfairly, to rebuke lies told about China, to correct distorted facts fabricated for China and to clear smear painted on China.
Chinese bloggers are NOT at here to bad mouthing others relentlessly like you.
Ahemm
@John Chan
You have a good point. Unfortunately, when you try to defend (or point out misinformation about) your country, you add some unfairly portrayal of other nations. Hypocrisy, I must say.
John Chan
@Ahemm,
If you could stand outside the box of “Moral high ground is the birth right of the West” for just one moment, I can guarantee you will not so critical to me.
a_canadian_observer
Ahemm, don't blame John Chan. He's doing us 2 favors:
- He's a source of amusement on this forum,
- Because of him, and the likes of him, we understand china much better now, and it's not in their favor.
John Chan
@a_canadian_observer,
It’s always my pleasure to impart knowledge on the uneducated and the hubris anti-China rednecks on this site.
Lady Sang-Hwa
John Chan, the loudest wumao – did I say something that not true, boy? you better show some respects for an old lady like me. Why don't you defend the unlivable environments in China? don't you have any emotions for your countrymen, who bear the unbearables and have no where to voice their suffering?
John Chan
@Lady Sang-Hwa,
Perhaps age has serious negative impact on your logical thinking capacity. Chinese can travel wherever they like, if China is as bad you said, China would have been hollowed out long time ago, as well as China cannot grow at the current pace that is going overtake the USA soon. China’s prosperity proves you are either lying through the teeth or your mental capacity is in serious decline just like the economy environment in Japan.
bernhardboehm
"Chinese bloggers are here to protest when China is portrayed unfairly, to rebuke lies told about China, to correct distorted facts fabricated for China and to clear smear painted on China."
This is interesting. According to your post, Chinese bloggers are not here to share their opinion, but to defend China. Correct? Are they/you the China government PR organization?
Daniel
Because this article is not about qwater quality.
Kim’s Uncle
John chan strikes again with his unending tirades against the West and the US! Hey, how come no comment are censorship issue in southern china? Your own Chinese people are agitating for it, how come no comment?
John Chan
The West has been broadcasting that they are very generous and benevolence to Burma, they claimed they agreed to a 50% cancellation of their Burma’s debt. In fact Burma has treated those debts as non-existence and stopped paying them since 1990, so in reality the West only writes down half of its non-performing loans; on top of that the West agrees to give Burma more loans in a restructure so that Burma can take on more debt to pay off those remaining debts.
The West claims to help Mongolia to manage resources and improve living condition, if the Burma case is any indication of West’s help, it demonstrates the West is all about lip service and exploitation, as the old folks said, the West in the business of imperialism, not in the business of charity; good luck to the Mongolian if they don’t fall into the fate of the natives in Australia and Americas.
Ivan The Terrible
Mongolians penchant for massive corruption is no different from its cousins in Kazakhstan, Krgyzstan, India, Uzbekistan, the US, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Judging from their dishonesty, probably worse. It is all too easy for just a few fellas to corner the entire country's wealth. democracy is just a smokescreen to deflect international criticisms. And its phony democracy to boot in the first place. The terror of the Mongolian horde remains.
Guest
You forgot to mention their northern neighbor who is also corrupted and pretty famous by their aggression.
US : Master Corruptor
Fear not. The wickedly corrupt US has been included. No country comes near its scale of verbally disguised corruption. Washington buys or tries to buy every country and every leader. Unfortunately, not all are for sale. Especially those who are fiercely nationalistic and independent and do not practise the US's fake brand of "Democracy".
Jason P Vizsla
My understanding is that the pm is Russian educated, why incorporate the USA when Russia does just fine with corruption on its own.
On a positive note, i recently listened to a harvard podcast with the PM wherein he described a plan for every Mongolian to plant ten trees in their country, maybe this will help to combat the coal use by the poor. Eventually, he hoped to extend the program to other countries, with the final goal of making it a world wide volunteerism. Great idea. Sorry to bring any positivity into this usually negative and pessamistic forum.
Tom
:) I have lived in the USA and Russia, and seeing the US mentioned as corrupt gives me a smile. Now, I don't know how Mongolia ranks in comparison to Russia in corruption, but if I wanted to make a comparison to say "very corrupt," the USA would not be the first to come to mind.
Anyway, just the way Ivan the Terribly Open-Minded deals with Mongolians shows me how seriously I ought to take this comment.