During its plenary session on January 23, 2025, the State Great Khural of Mongolia approved the draft Law on Supporting Planning, Development, and Promotion of Kharkhorum City, along with the accompanying proposals submitted by the Government in December 2024. 

The draft Law focuses on facilitating the restoration and development of the historical Capital City of the Great Mongol Empire Kharkhorum while safeguarding Mongolia’s national history, cultural heritage, and nomadic civilization. Additionally, it aims at promoting sustainable tourism, ensuring balanced regional development, and establishing an environmentally friendly, comfortable urban environment. The draft law provides a legal framework for city planning, infrastructure development, and urban growth.

The draft Law regulates issues such as delegating certain municipal functions to private sector entities and integrating advanced information technology to develop a smart city model, ensuring transparency in city operations and development activities by maintaining open access to relevant information and establishing specific requirements for urban planning and defining principles to guide infrastructure development.

Specifically: 

• Promoting diverse and sustainable tourism based on historical and cultural heritage, archaeological sites, tangible and intangible cultural assets, unique natural landscapes, and the nomadic way of life;

• Ensuring that city planning, infrastructure, and services align with the collective rights and interests of residents while fostering a human-centered, multi-nodal urban system that provides equitable access to public services;

• Designating at least 50 percent of the city’s residential zones, as defined by the general development plan, as green spaces;

• Ensuring that, depending on zoning regulations and population density, residents have access to schools, kindergartens, social and cultural institutions, healthcare services, recreational areas, public transportation hubs, parks, and commercial establishments within a distance of 300 to 800 meters from their place of residence;

• Supporting balanced regional development by aligning the new city’s expansion with Mongolia’s broader regional development strategy while fostering economic self-sufficiency within the Khangai region;

• Encouraging the use of energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable technologies;

• Establishing designated airspace for the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).