MNT 5.0 BILLION BUDGETED FOR REDUCTION OF AIR POLLUTION

The National Committee for Reducing Air Pollution, formed in accordance with an ordinance of the Prime Minister, held its first meeting on December 1. Present were, the committee members, officials from the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry and other state bodies.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister pledged the government will realize policy actions on enforcing priority frameworks for reducing air pollution, through expending the funds of air pollution payments for just purposes by promoting the renewable energy utilization, providing incentives to households using electric solution to heating, encouraging quality fuel imports, consumption and citizens’ use of gas fuel vehicles.

The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Ms D.Oyunkhorol noted that Ulaanbaatar stood at the 47th place out of the 50 countries with the worst air pollution. A study shows there has been a 2.4 times increase in 2014 in the number of respiratory illnesses per 10 thousand population (1,730 cases) against that of 2005 (697 cases). It is necessary to sophisticate the strategies and plans for reducing air pollution, promoting actions between localities, and phase out the old vehicles through increasing the running tax, she said.

The committee discussed the actions taken and perspective for future developments, and tasked the Ministers to submit the proposals of planned actions for reducing air pollution by next Wednesday.

Each year, about MNT 30 billion is allocated in the Government Budget, pursuant to the Law on Air Pollution Payment. However, the funds have not been spent for its original purposes.MNT 5.0 billion has been budgeted for combat against air pollution for the next fiscal year.

The next year’s air pollution budget will reportedly be dedicated to ensuring the reliability of power access for households in the targeted areas of air quality improvement, zeroing the nighttime power tariff and distributing low emission stoves and patent fuel.

Source:http://en.montsame.mn/politics/mnt-50-billion-budgeted-reduction-air-pollution