Choice of consultants for Sainshand industrial park likely soon

B.Ganbaatar, head of the development and investment policy department of the National Development and Innovation Committee (NDIC), tells E.Saikhantuya about the work being made to implement the Sainshand industrial park program.

Let’s start with the outlines of the program.

Sainshand is in Dornogobi aimag. The total program includes building a 1,100-km railway line from Tavan Tolgoi to Choibalsan, where it will connect to the Russian Trans Siberian railway, to reach sea ports. Coal from Tavan Tolgoi, iron ore from Darkhan, and copper concentrate from Oyu Tolgoi and Tsagaansuvarga are to be transported by railway to Sainshand to be processed in plants there before being exported. The park requires an investment of over USD10 billion and many of the planned facilities, including processing, will be built with private investment. There will be jobs for 5,000 people in the park when all the units begin working.

How will such an ambitious program be fulfilled?

The proposed industrial park will play a significant role in the production of value added products. The projects to be set up there have been designated as being of priority importance. Two working groups have been set up. One of them is chaired by the Prime Minister and acts as the Sainshand project’s Governing Board. Another group under this is headed by the Chairman of the Government Secretariat, Ch.Khurelbaatar. NDIC is represented on the Board.
Setting up Erdenet Corporation was the last major development project in Mongolia, but the Sainshand complex is ger and also different from Erdenet in that its focus will be on processing of resources like copper concentrate, iron ore, crude oil etc. Since we lack the proper experience locally, it was decided to hire two international consultants to work on separate aspects of the project.
 
What exactly will they do and how will you find them?

We have published two advertisements so far, one for a technical consultant and the other for a legal consultant. The first will study the technical and economic aspects of the whole project and prepare a general work plan. An engineering company is likely to be selected, preferably one that has experience of building such an industrial complex...

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