Project description

Title: Integrated urban development
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: Mongolia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Finance
Overall term: 2006 to 2012

Context

A difference of up to 60°C between indoor and outdoor temperatures in Mongolia poses a great challenge to building materials, construction technology and infrastructure services. The capital city of Ulaanbaatar is on the brink of ecological collapse due to high levels of air, soil and water pollution, shortages of energy and water, ever-increasing traffic chaos and the expansion of yurt settlements. The responsible Ministry for Roads, Transport, Construction and Urban Development and the City Council of Ulaanbaatar are overstretched. The situation is characterised by centralised administration approaches, a lack of coordination between the relevant institutions, regulatory deficiencies, and poorly defined competences. Ulaanbaatar's urban development planning is neither energy-efficient nor environmentally-friendly; it is being implemented without any private sector or civil society involvement.

Objective

Management and control competences in the Ministry for Roads, Transport, Construction and Urban Development and Ulaanbaatar City Council have improved. Energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly urban development is being managed with the participation of the Mongolian private sector.

Approach

The project uses practical strategies to identify solutions. Pilot projects implemented in cooperation with partners and the private sector in Mongolia (e.g. energetic refurbishment of prefabricated buildings and the Mongolian-German ECO CITY) demonstrate that energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly construction is possible. The provision of advisory services on building laws, norms and standards, and the implementation of urban land-use planning will ensure the new technologies become firmly established in the system and improve the partner organisations' management skills.

Results achieved so far

Energy-saving building renovations and low-energy houses have brought savings of 60 % in heating energy compared to conventional construction methods. The relevant decision-makers and the private sector in Mongolia have demonstrated empirically that solar thermal energy does work in the cold Mongolian winter, and the results have been integrated into their planning processes.

It is clear from the land development plan that ecological considerations are now being incorporated into urban planning in Ulaanbaatar. The southern urban development area is to be planned and built up on an environmentally-friendly and energy-saving basis.

Practical training courses have enabled Mongolian construction companies to construct buildings requiring sufficient insulation and fewer thermal bridges.

Four air quality analysers ensure that the Mongolian public is kept constantly informed about the level of air pollution.