Today Mongolians are faced with making a far more important decision than the 2012 parliamentary elections. This choice is between protecting our rivers or destroying our soil. While we do not fully comprehend the present or future values of neither, half of our population is choosing water and the other half is opting for gold.
Voters for water
In July of 2009 the Parliament passed a three-page law with only six provisions forbidding mining exploration and production in the areas of river basins, water sources, reservoirs and protected lands including forestry. Voters for water, mostly ordinary citizens and local communities, are still wondering why this law is not being put into effect up to now and demand its implementation.
At the beginning along with this law the Parliament issued a decree and ordered Prime Minister S. Bayar at the time to re-establish borders of protected territories, to investigate and supervise activities of authorized mining companies that carry operations within 200 meters from river shores and to update all relevant data information within three months time. The government was given directions to compensate for costs related to annulations of certain special production licences. But it did not implement this law. More so, it even issued 192 more permits, so that several parliament members posed questions to the Prime Minister demanding explanations at the end of last year.
Frustrated with the government’s incapacity to enforce the law, desperate local residents went on strike against gold-mining companies docked on their river shores and even fired a shotgun 20 times at one company’s property located on Budanch River in Selenge Aimag (Mandal Soum). This combat appears to potentially cover the entire territory as it spreads in due time. In charge of this movement are a group of protesters who recently damaged the windows of the Parliament Building with bows and arrows.
Voters for gold
Voters for gold believe that this law restricts Mongolia’s growth and development, interfering with operations of hundreds of enterprises and leaving thousands jobless. They argue that companies with special licences have paid a lot of money to the state budget: the government has to pay some 5-6 billion dollars in compensation and it would not be able to do so. Commercial banks would bankrupt unable to retrieve their loans.
A number of parliamentary members (Ya.Batsuuri, J.Batsuuri, D.Kyokushuzan Batbayar, А.Tleykhan, О.Chuluunbat and others) supported the idea to change this unreasonable in their opinion, law: “Let’s go ahead with the current licences and the environmental restoration agenda. It was a mistake to create an irresponsible law in the first place, let us revoke this law before it takes effect.” For the civic society to check back the votes of these members at the time of approval is impossible. In any case, these members are set to prepare a draft for approval to change this law.
Looks like the ruling parties and officials at all levels of power have already quietly agreed to synchronously support this idea, needless to even remind of the growing expenses for the upcoming election campaigns of these politicians. They are in a hurry to give special permission for a small number of companies for fear of “ninjas” eradicating the soil before they can. This choice is mostly voted for by businesses and their representing politicians whose interests are hindered by this law including some parliamentary members and local governors.
Your vote?
If this law passed and the extract of minerals from river sources, water basins and protected lands including forests discontinued, it would leave hundreds of businesses at a loss. The government reported 391 companies that have the rights to work in the above-mentioned areas. 276 (70%) of those are excavating for gold, 43 for construction materials, 31 for coal mining, and the remaining 31 for other minerals. Coal and construction materials of course can be extracted from areas where there is no surface water.
But how does the profit of gold mining companies relate to the general population? A few years ago, Mongolia’s annual gold production was 25 tonn until the wind fall tax of 68% above certain level of international market price was introduced. Then almost all gold began to get smuggled out across the border instead of sold at the market price to the Central Bank (as it was done before.) Five years have passed since the state became accustomed to receiving only 5.0tonn gold per year, the profit of which does not reach to the local residents. Once a press commotion broke out on a story about customs revealing less than 100kg gold at the border about to be smuggled out, (that is out of the missing 20tonn). All this time gold mining did not decrease. But the gold did disappear.
Why would Mongolia’s citizens vote for the gold, when the return after ravaging their lands and draining their rivers goes only to few individuals, their political agents who “obtained” a special licence? At an age when politicians themselves have turned into commodities, ready for sale anywhere for any rate at least we will have our water while waiting for better times. This governance with conflict of interests will not stay in Mongolia forever, will it?
Let us even leave the subject of natural habitat and ecological equilibrium aside and continue drilling and shovelling the lands where there is no surface water. It is at least time to demand for realistic figures, to re-calculate the amount of compensation with the companies on how much gold was processed, what the expenses and revenues were, the amount of taxes and fees paid to the local and central government, and to get evaluations by a third party on these issues. Then the issue of which party is indebted to whom will be clearer.
One should also take into account the opinions of local residents that lost their lands and herds. And politicians that are afraid that the state budget will be left without earnings should calm down. State budget revenue and expenses must have limits. Government officials too should cut down their expenses on overseas vacations, luxury cars and medical-treatments abroad. All in all with the Mongolian population in poverty they should consider twice before “feasting in a time of cholera.” Stop doing business on building extravagant palaces for the ruling parties with state budget funds. If business is conducted by renting those palaces, pay tax like everyone else. In regards to the bankruptcy of big commercial banks, because their only way to grow is to implement company’s good governance and social responsibility, they created provision funds to all possibly related loans since the first day the law was passed. The executors of the daily operations of these banks are knowledgeable professionals unlike many politicians or their close allies who were appointed to government offices by corrupt officials, (excluding those hard working, honest public officers.)
Any law is created in order to be implemented. A law is not passed to make the lawmakers rich. Many lawmakers ignore a draft if it is not in their personal interests because they do not care. The Parliament must hold the government responsible for not implementing this law. This case reflects like a mirror the impuissance of Mongolia’s public governance where the role of lawmakers and law-implementers stays vague.
Translated by J.Ariunaa
UB Post
June 8, 2011