Mongolian National Audit Office (MNAO) presented the results of inspection on the air pollution reduction activities of Clean Air Fund (CAF) conducted in 2008-2016 by foreign and domestic investments yesterday and concluded that the fund spent the financing on ineffective measures. The inspection focused on three main factors, namely coordination of government bodies, efficient planning and effectiveness. MNAO spokesperson highlighted that the fund failed to properly manage the measures due to incoordination of legal measures ratified since 1995. With an aim to tackle air pollution, the President and Prime Minister respectively established a national committee twice under the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and created an agency to organize, implement and monitor actions against air pollution three times. The agency’s structure was changed each time. Accordingly, the line of duties overlapped, ultimately making it impossible to consolidate and monitor the results of implemented measures, reported MNAO. This also means that it is now impossible to track down authorities, public servants and government bodies responsible for the inappropriate use of the financing for air pollution reduction. The MNAO even mentioned that the financial information was based on the Ministry of Finance data. Between 2008 and 2016, a total of MNT 164.1 billion was allocated from local budgets and USD 153.3 million from foreign loans and aids on air pollution reduction measures. Furthermore, electricity tariff discount to 2.5 million consumers of Ulaanbaatar city ger districts will add another MNT 14 billion to this amount. However, the Ministry of Finance responded that it is not possible to share the use of foreign non-refundable aids by each year.

Thus, the MNAO reviewed only the overviews and estimates in inspecting air pollution reduction measures. According to MNAO, 26 percent of total costs were spent on establishing a facility for briquette fuels and its expansion, 22 percent on improved stoves and purchasing vehicles for ash transporting, 10.9 percent on improved fuel, workers’ incentives and warehouse rent. MNAO report also showed that there are not a single successfully completed work. “The key action, which was to distribute improved stoves at a discounted price, they have become same as traditional stoves due to misuse and inadequacy. 70,580 tons of fuel worth agreements were signed with 14 improved fuel manufacturing entities, of which only 22.4 percent were supplied. The MNAO informed that officials at the time signed the deals without studying their capacity. “Although insulations were distributed at a discounted price to ger district households, aging of insulation materials were not determined and grants to target households were not registered or monitored. Electricity cost of ger district households were also discounted by certain percent, no studies were conducted on its impact on air pollution,” addressed a spokesperson of the MNAO. Additionally, the audit office considered that the actions on reducing greenhouse gas emission remains inadequate. The Government allocated MNT 9.8 billion for the action; however, the CAF did not conduct preparatory works, failed to complete tasks, allocated financing without considering the performance and lacked monitoring on project implementation, concluded the MNAO and assessed air pollution reduction actions as unsatisfactory.

Published Date:2018-10-24