On May 14, 2025, Prime Minister of Mongolia Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai visited the facilities of the Gashuunsukhait border-port that accommodate the administration of the border-port, border guards, customs, and the Immigration and Citizenship Agency.
Under the Mongolian Government’s “Port Revival” Program, construction work for the “Construction of Facilities and Infrastructure at the Gashuunsukhait Border Port” Project began in September 2019 to expand and modernize the port to international standards. The Project aims at expanding the port’s integrated transport and logistics network, boosting international trade and regional development by upgrading border gates with neighboring countries, increasing exports and imports, supporting tourism, and making a major contribution to the economy.
Before the modernization of the port, limited throughput capacity led to vehicle queues stretching more than 100 kilometers, harming public health and the environment, with outdated inspection equipment and heavy workloads posing numerous challenges.
The Project is being financed with MNT 43.5 billion in grant aid from the Government of the People’s Republic of China and MNT 29.5 billion from the State Budget of Mongolia. Of this, MNT 15.3 billion was allocated between 2019 and 2024, and the remaining MNT 14.2 billion will be provided in 2025.
Despite delays and cost pressures caused by flooding and the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction continued, with a total of 308 engineers and technicians, 50 from Mongolian companies and 258 from Chinese companies.
The port’s buildings and paved areas have been completely overhauled, with a passenger-freight inspection complex covering 31.9 hectares having been constructed, including 29 buildings. Vehicle-inspection lanes were expanded to three in each direction for traffic, while the mineral-export section now has 10 exit lanes and six entry lanes. International-standard smart gates, weighbridges, heavy-duty roads, X-ray scanners, disinfection stations, kennels for sniffer dogs, a laboratory, a power sub-station, communications and CCTV systems, lighting, fencing, and other security facilities have been installed. Management reports that these upgrades will double passenger and freight throughput and triple the capacity for exporting minerals and coal.
Established in 1992, the Gashuunsukhait border-port borders China’s Ganqimaodu port. It handles more than 50 percent of Mongolia’s coal exports and 57 percent of its copper-concentrate exports, making it the country’s largest strategic port in terms of foreign-trade turnover.