Mongolia : Intelligent Transport Systems Development for Mongolia

Transport /

The Government of Mongolia has requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance a policy and advisory technical assistance (PATA) for an ITS development plan for Mongolia. The main objective of the TA is to identify ITS service needs to improve road safety management and operation. Advances in ITS can enhance quality of life and support sustainable socio-economic development in Mongolia. The TA is included in the Country Operation Business Plan: Mongolia 2015.

ADB has provided ICT support in various sectors in Mongolia and the ICT outputs of ADB-financed projects have performed reasonably well. This support has been closely coordinated with assistance provided by the government and other development partners, including the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea, the World Bank, and the private sector. Two ADB TAs in urban transport sector supported Ulaanbaatar Municipal Government in developing plans specifically for bus management system, bus information system and e-ticketing system for preparing Urban Transport Infrastructure Development Investment Program. ITS development by the national and local governments are implemented by each project based approach rather than ITS policy and ITS architecture and standard. Also the support in ITS by the ADB and other development partners have not covered overall ITS policy across the entire transport sector.

The TA will support the Government of Mongolia by preparing a National ITS Policy and Development Plan. The TA will adopt an ITS user service approach to identify priority ITS services from different users' needs and effectiveness. Potential ITS users include road users, transport system operators and government agencies in the transport sector. Identified user service and service bundle will determine the ITS infrastructure requirements and investment needed. The TA will cover ITS development and implementation plan for urban and regional road transport, public transport and logistics, ITS architecture and standards for future integration, and interoperability of the systems implemented.

Mongolia will need to boost its competitiveness if the growth process is to be more inclusive and integrated. Mongolia's competitiveness suffers from infrastructure that is absent in many places and outdated in others. The roads to the borders are incomplete and badly maintained, as are the logistics and customs facilities. Poor infrastructure and weak trade systems lead to costly transport, complex logistics, and long transit times.

Massive transport investments are needed to support economic competitiveness of all sectors. The development challenges to overcome in the transport sector include: (i) reducing transport and logistics costs for trade, thereby fostering regional integration; (ii) enhancing transport efficiency and safety; (iii) promoting urban efficiency through improved urban transport management and services; (iv) developing cost-effective solutions to enhance rural accessibility; and (v) improving sector institutional, financial management, and human capacity, notably to ensure asset sustainability. ITS is vital to increase efficiency and safety of transport sector and tackle growing emission and congestion problems even for the constrained transport infrastructure environment like Mongolia. Mongolian transportation and allied entities can make transport safer, more efficient and more sustainable by applying various information and communication technologies to all modes of passenger and freight transport. Moreover, the integration of existing transportation services can create new services, jobs and growth in the transport and ICT sectors. But in order to be effective, the near, medium and long term roll-out of ITS needs to be coherent and properly coordinated across the countries transport and allied entities.

The Mongolian government has been investing in infrastructure to support and sustain economic growth and intends to develop an efficient logistics network to enhance trade, develop transport networks, and increase legal, regulatory and institutional capacity. The government's information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives focus on overcoming the development constraints of high logistics costs. It has launched various initiatives to use ICT to support the creation of a knowledge-society and made significant progress through the E-Mongolia National Program and the E-Government Master Plan, the Smart Government Program and the Glass Account Program (Budget Transparency Law). These programs are designed to deliver services in an efficient and transparent fashion, and support business process reforms across the government, and have created a high demand for improved ICT infrastructure and e-solutions. Developing ICT in the transport sector can leverage these efforts and increase the sector's overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Mongolia's transport sector is one of the ICT areas in which opportunities for ITS to improve the urban and rural transport sectors performance has not yet been explored. Due to the country's vast size, sparse settlement patterns in rural areas and rapid rural-urban migration to Ulaanbaatar, transport infrastructure investments need to be carefully chosen to ensure they are economically viable and maximize the efficiency and safety of existing transport infrastructure.

Recent advancements in telecommunications, internet service and sensing technologies offer the possibility of innovations which include connected vehicles, traffic data collection and traffic information provision through mobile phone. ITS offers considerable potential for enabling efficient use of transport infrastructure, both to complement capital investments and as an alternative to additional capital intensive infrastructure deployment, and as a tool for enhancing road safety and transport operations capacity.

Transport operation and management in Mongolia through intelligent transport systems (ITS) enhanced.

National ITS Policy and Development Plan is presented to the Government of Mongolia.

National ITS Policy and Development Plan for Mongolia prepared

ITS capacity improved

Knowledge product on National ITS Policy and Development Plan prepared

The TA will be jointly monitored by: (i) the project officer assigned to the project within the East Asia Transport division of ADB and (ii) the officer in ADB's Mongolia Resident Mission.

Lessons learned for the TA will be disseminated by publishing knowledge products entitled 'ITS development strategy for Sparsely Populated County: the Case of Mongolia.