Full version of presentation given by D.Jargalsaikhan at a public discussion organized by the Ulaanbaatar City Land Administration department on topics related to land use planning.
The land in our capital city is under public ownership, but the authorities at the capital city and district levels, and the Ministry of Envrionment and Tourism, have been conspiring with each other for years and have been secretly trading the land that is owned by the people. How much longer do we have to put up with this situation where our land is used by others for their own personal interests and wealth? It has already been 20-30 odd years – can we really last longer without fixing the problem?
Our claim to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism
When land trading spread widely and the law on special protection was passed, U.Barsbold, then Minister of Environment and Toursim and a Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) member, became wealthy by selling 4,000 hectares of land in the Tuul and Terelj basin. A court case was opened alleging that all the land surrounding the Bogd Mountain (i.e. its mountain passes) were sold, but it was just another play that did not really result in anything.
Over the years the people who have served as the Minister of Environment and Tourism and their associates have deliberately blurred the ownership of Ulaanbaatar’s land by claiming state protection. When doing so, they secretly sold the Yarmag hill land. Even today the ministry is still afraid of disclosing who the buyers were.
Currently small-time trade of the Bogd Mountain land is on the rise. You can find fences and security guards on stolen land at all mountain passes, every one of which has its own story of corruption.
The people of Ulaanbaatar are demanding the government to return our Tuul River and the Yarmag land. The government must stop stealing – they are elected to protect, not plunder.
Our claim to the Ulaanbaatar City administration
The city mayors, district governors, and other authorites get rich by embezzling Ulaanbaatar’s land, an example of which is areas dedicated to physical education at schools. We can all see the two huge apartment blocks built inside the fences of the Russian school No.3.
In 2003-2004 M.Enkhbold, who was the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar, sold 970 hectares of land stretching from today’s Dunjingarav district to Amgalan to a single company (Mon-Uran Company). It took the small-time trading to its peak.
Furthermore, M.Enkhbold, Ts.Batbayar, and G.Munkhbayar, who were all mayors and are MPP members, have shown a special preference to the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and the Ulaanbaatar Bank by handing over to them all of the capital and insurance the people have built. These banks have been given a lot of highly valued, publicly owned land, including school and kindergarten areas.
For example, following MPP’s defeat in the 2012 elections, G.Munkhbayar gifted a lot of highly valued land to the Ulaanbaatar Bank on the day before Naadam and prior to formation of a new city administration. The land he transferred as his last act in the offce included the land in the south of Sukhbaatar Square along with its garden, the gardens in front of Ulaanbaatar Hotel and the General Intelligence Agency, Yu.Tsedenbal’s square and its garden, as well as the Students’ Square with its garden as well.
The people in Ulaanbaatar have been deprived of squares, gardens, and even the city administration building now. Su.Batbold, the current Mayor of Ulaanbaatar, declared that the city administration would move to Yarmag, given that they do not have the building anymore. He must be well aware that Yarmag does not have any space left. The reason they are moving is that the previous mayor E.Bat-Uul handed over the historical city administration building to Golomt Bank on a ‘tender’ for a concession agreement for construction and use. This is why he was talking about moving the city administration to Bayankhoshuu. Although this concession agreement was reversed after the government was replaced, the case has come back to the surface recently and the court is reviewing its decision. Hence, the city administration is about to change its location.
TDB and Golomt Bank are not only stealing from property under public ownership conspiring with mayors from different parties, but also erasing the history of our city. TDB demolished a historical building for the children’s library and erected a building resembling a white, glass box instead. When they were building a new tower after removing an old one, the director of Zanabazar museum was speaking with such worry because now the museum was under their nose.
Now Golomt Bank is thinking of demolishing the historically significant city administration building, the Altai Hotel that was erected in 1948, and the gym that they built themselves and bribed the administration with 20 years ago. After the demolition, their intention is building another glass box and for everyone to have three floors under a concession agreement.
Our capital city has its own history and image. Is there anyone doing anything to at least save its appearance?
Conclusion
Properties under public ownership are unregistered and ownerless today. This is why the city administration has been able to do whatever they wanted. Let’s bring more clarity and a proper registry to land and other properties that are owned by the public. How many assets are out there, how much tax is paid, how much has been paid so far, and what has it been spent on?
However, this is not being done, and there are no interests to make it happen. This is the reason why Ulaanbaatar is on the brink of bankruptcy. As corruption grows and prices of land hike up, apartments are getting ridiculously expensive while ger districts are expanding over mountains. In the meantime Ulaanbaatar (Red Hero) has become Utaanbaatar (Smog Hero) sinking in its toxic smog. A human herd has appeared on the waste dumps around the city. Even our enemy could not have done these terrible things to our city.
No one, including ministers, mayors, or the two political parties that have had the ruling power in turn, has been held responsible for these corruption cases. In contrast, the culprits keep getting wealthier and more prosperous.
Three important steps
We need to make three reforms in real estate, immovable properties and land relations.
First of all, we need to introduce zoning so that there are clear distinctions between the areas where people live, greenhouses are built, or factories operate. It needs to be set out in the law along with specific standards that are applied universally.
Then we need to accurately determine the value of real estate, collect taxes, and spend half of that revenue on maintaining and improving the infrastructure at the location so that its value is increased.
The third step is to create a public domain where the public can access information such as properties, their areas, ownership, market value, taxes paid, ongoing construction projects, and their completion date.
Trans. by B.Amar
2018.01.24