Mongolia is greening its education buildings and facilities

The Government of Mongolia is one step closer to realize its ambition to green its public buildings. Green Development Policy of Mongolia 2030 (2015) and its Implementation Action Plan set out to develop a model green public building design to mainstream green building principles across all public buildings, in line with other climate change goals and sustainable development vision. Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) supported the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Municipal Government of Ulaanbaatar in their efforts to design a demonstration green kindergarten.

Shortage of seats in education buildings and facilities are increasingly becoming a critical issue in Mongolia, particularly in Ulaanbaatar City, due to rapid population growth and rural-to-urban migration in Ulaanbaatar City. According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, in the past 5 years, kindergarten enrolment increased by 25%, from 193 672 in 2013 to 256 720 in 2018. However, there are about 60 000 kindergarten-aged children who have no access to pre-school education due to the shortage of kindergarten buildings and facilities.

The Government of Mongolia has signed a USD 50 million Loan Agreement with Asian Development Bank, on 4 April 2018, to finance growing demand for education buildings, under the five-year project titled “Sustaining Access to and Quality of Education During Economic Difficulties Project”. A demonstration Green Kindergarten is included in the loan package, and allocated USD 600 000. Procurement expected to commence in the first quarter of 2019. The demonstration kindergarten has the capacity of 125 seats and located in the ger area of 25th khoroo of Songinokhairkhan District of Ulaanbaatar City.

The demonstration kindergarten is equipped with various green technologies and solutions that are previously tested in Mongolia. Once constructed, building performance will be continuously monitored and evaluated. It is expected that model green building design will be replicated and scaled-up across Mongolia.

GGGI wishes to thank the leadership of Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Municipal Government of Ulaanbaatar for their leadership and commitment to mainstream green building principles into the public building procurements. Green Kindergarten design is developed jointly by the Building Technology LLC and Green Building Institute.

Original source: GGGI
Published on 6 September 2018