Chinese consortium wins competition to masterplan new city in Mongolia

The combined team of China Road and Bridge Corporation, China Construction Engineering Design and Research Institute, and China Communications Highway Planning and Design Institute beat submissions from 76 planning and design teams from across the world to come out on top.

The competition, sponsored by the government of Mongolia, opened in April this year as a response to overcrowding and congestion in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, which is home to more than half the country’s population.

The winning consortium for the design of a masterplan for New Kharkhorum City (Image courtesy of CSCEC)

New Kharkhorum City would sit on 189,363 hectares of land in the Orkhon Valley, around 300km (186.4 miles) south of Ulaanbataar and would aim to ease overcrowding in the capital and encourage regional sustainable development.

The winning consortium takes a top prize of 750 million NMT (US$221,000). The government of Mongolia selected a team of urban planners and architects from the USA, South Korea, Poland and Germany to judge the competition.

Establishment of the new city is one of the goals of Mongolia’s long-term development policy ‘Vision 2050’.

President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa said, “We can rebuild New Kharkhorum City if the government and the people come together and work hard for one goal.”