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MongoliaConstruction
In 1985 the construction sector generated 4.9 percent of
national income, and the construction materials industry produced
6.7 percent of gross industrial output. Mongolian statistics
indicated that approximately 28,200 workers were involved in
construction projects and that 8,500 workers were employed in the
manufacture of construction materials in 1985. Mongolian
statistics, however, were misleading because they did not include
the role of military and foreign labor in the construction
sector. The Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, East European
countries and China, played a key role in constructing Mongolia's
infrastructure. The Erdenet combine, for example, was built by a
14,000-strong joint Mongolian-Soviet work force that included
military construction troops and workers of the Soviet
construction company, Medmolibdenstroy. Other Soviet construction
companies working in Mongolia included the joint-stock company,
Sovmongolpromstroy, which built industrial facilities, and
Mongolenergostroy, which constructed electric lines and power
stations. In the mid-1980s, Mongolian construction teams
undertook 40 percent of construction work; Soviet and other
Comecon countries undertook the rest. China provided laborers to
help build up Mongolia's transportation and industrial
infrastructure in the 1950s, but such aid ceased with the SinoSoviet rift in the 1960s
(see Socialist Construction Under Tsedenbal, 1952-84
, ch. 1). In addition, in the 1980s Mongolian
military construction troops were involved in building many
industrial, agricultural, and other facilities
(see Economic Role
, ch. 5).
In the late 1980s, the construction sector was plagued by
substandard work, delays in completing projects and in installing
equipment, and shortages of labor and building materials. To
alleviate these problems, the Eighth Plan called for increasing
total construction and installation work by 26 to 29 percent, for
raising the work performed by Mongolian construction teams by 42
to 44 percent, and for increasing labor productivity by 20 to 22
percent. Manufacture of construction materials was to increase by
160 to 170 percent, and labor productivity in the construction
materials industry, by 36 to 38 percent. Measures to increase
construction efficiency were recommended, including channeling
capital investments into priority projects; reducing construction
times and the amount of incomplete construction; improving
coordination among planning, construction, and supply
organizations and their clients; creating specialized enterprises
for rural construction work; and improving working and social
conditions for construction workers in order to reduce labor
shortages.
Data as of June 1989
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