By D.Jargalsaikhan

 Land relation is one of the basic economic relations. A country’s development is dependent on land relations, which concerns land ownership, land registration and validation of land transactions. The Article 6 of Chapter One of the Constitution of Mongolia states “The land, its subsoil, forests, water, fauna and flora and other natural resources in Mongolia shall belong exclusively to the people and be under the State protection.” and Article 7 states “The land, except those given to the citizen of Mongolia for private possession, as well as the subsoil with its mineral wealth, forest, water resources and game shall be the property of the State.” It is only a definition on paper. In real life, land in Ulaanbaatar belongs to ruling political parties and their associates.        
All Mayors, their deputies, general managers and people’s representatives of Ulaanbaatar and its districts have been carrying out orders from those political parties and conspiring to sell every last inch of land in Ulaanbaatar including the best locations, children’s playgrounds, high school athletic fields and even walkways. They do it so quickly and promptly brainwashing people with fancy names such as project selection rule and management privatization. All land and property in Ulaanbaatar worth having is sold now, so a property reallocation battle has begun.    

    
An example of the frauds committed by those people with political power is Zaisan’s pass at Bogd Mountain. City authorities forced people who lived in ger districts in Zaisan’s pass to move insisting that the area was protected by the law and could only be used for tourism. However, after they managed to force those people out of their ger districts, they conspired to use the area, which is close to forests and has fresh air, for their own good and sell it without any tenders. There is now an elite district with expensive apartments in Zaisan’s pass and most of the people who live in the district are politicians, legislators and administrators.  
It is pretty amusing that the Constitutional Court of Mongolia, which must be the most faithful and righteous body, had a new house built in Zaisan’s Hill and moved in it. However, every family living in Zaisan’s pass has not got its ownership certificate yet, therefore, they are living there illegally just like those thousands of people who moved into outer districts of Ulaanbaatar from countryside. Thus, it means that illegal people are on top of Mongolian politics. That is also why they are going to pass a new law and change what areas will be protected by the State. This new law, which is ready to be discussed, will remove the State protection from every mountain valley of Bogd Mountain.        
It is a more serious fraud if one tries to change the law in order to cover his illegal actions. It is a very unique phenomenon that is only happening in so-called democratic Mongolia and, based on the concept, we can call it “zaisaning”. Today’s governance is “zaisaning” public property. The reason why 93 percent of urban population did not get their land ownerships is that the city administration had sold out all the best locations and offered desolate areas in outer districts of Ulaanbaatar to people. Political parties and its leaders have currently started conspiring with the city administration to “zaisan” Yarmag.  
The plan for the new “creation” is out and they have already allocated the whole land and sold “under the table”. Please prove if otherwise by disclosing all deals. The only thing they are waiting for is the new law that will change the area protected by the State. A company or two could not wait for it and started building new districts in the south hill of Yarmag and Zaisan’s mountain passes. What should be done now? People living in Ulaanbaatar can at least do the following:
-The law on information transparency and information access will be passed and be implemented starting from next month. Therefore, we should demand from the city administration information about what land was given to whom at what price and by whose decision. People’s associations had previously demanded it, but the city administration did not reply just because they did not have to. They will have to reply no later than a week and, if they do not, we have to demand the Mayor and the people’s representatives assembly’s resignations.  
-If they come up with a list of names, we should demand for further information until we know the real owners. We should also demand that politicians and civil servants who were involved in “zaisaning” be banned from participating in elections. Furthermore, the Constitutional Court of Mongolia must be ordered to implement laws.  
-People should demand that the new law on changing the area protected by the State must not be passed before the next election. Afterwards, a special land tax should be set and income from that tax should be used for building apartments for those people who live in ger districts.
-Land in Yarmag hill and other public properties should be sold in tender and the income from that should be spent on building apartments for those people who live in ger districts. Leaders of political parties and people with authorities must stop “zaisaning”.

Translated by B.Amar