Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry

A commissioning ceremony for the central sewage treatment plant in Mongolian capital city Ulan Bator, built with assistance from China, was held on Monday and as the largest and most sophisticated wastewater treatment facility in the country, the plant will upgrade local water quality and environmental conditions, according to a release by Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attended the ceremony alongside Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg and other officials, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The plant, a key China-Mongolia cooperation project, is built by Chinese enterprises in full compliance with Chinese standards and utilizing homegrown Chinese technologies. It will improve local water ecological conditions and lift local residents' living standards, according to the release.

The old sewage treatment plant in Ulan Bator was first built in 1964. Its outdated treatment technology and limited capacity fall far short of coping with mounting sewage loads stemming from the city's urban expansion, population surge and industrial proliferation, people.cn reported in October 16, 2023.

The old facility has exerted growing pollution pressure on the Tuul River, Mongolia's mother river, while inflicting varying degrees of ecological damage on downstream waterways including the Orkhon River, Selenge River and even Russia's Lake Baikal, making a new, larger and more technologically sophisticated wastewater treatment plant an urgent necessity, per people.cn.

Upon full operation, the new plant will boast a maximum daily wastewater treatment capacity of 250,000 cubic meters, comprising 150,000 cubic meters of domestic sewage and 100,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater, people.cn reported. 

Rendering of the central sewage treatment plant in Mongolian capital city Ulan Bator Photo: Screenshot from media reports

The report also said that it will rank as Mongolia's largest single-unit, most modern and technically intricate wastewater treatment plant, delivering benefits to nearly 45 percent of the country's population.

On Monday, Altankhuyag Uilstuguldur, chief of staff of the Office of the President of Mongolia, said on behalf of Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh that the sewage treatment plant is a landmark achievement of Mongolia-China cooperation and brings substantial benefits to the Mongolian people, per Xinhua.

He expressed sincere appreciation for China's support for Mongolia's economic and social development, Xinhua reported.

Wang said that China-Mongolia relations have become a model of friendly coexistence, shared development, and common prosperity among neighboring countries. He reaffirmed China's commitment to the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness in neighborhood diplomacy and pledged to deepen traditional friendship and open new avenues for bilateral cooperation, according to Xinhua.



Global Times