Mongolia\'s government has announced that it will spend more than US$1 billion (S$1.27 billion) on new road and rail projects in 2012, doubling the country\'s infrastructure budget from this year on the back of a mining boom.
Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold said Mongolia would devote 1.5 trillion tugrik ($1.48 billion) to building desperately needed infrastructure including new roads to China and a railway connecting the Gobi Desert to Russia.
Mongolia\'s move to open up its vast natural mineral reserves to foreign investors has made it one of the world\'s hottest economies, with growth of 17.3 per cent in the second quarter according to World Bank data.
In 2009, Mongolia sealed a long-awaited multi-billion-dollar deal with Canada\'s Ivanhoe Mines and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto to develop Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world\'s richest copper deposits and a key gold source.
Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold said Mongolia would devote 1.5 trillion tugrik ($1.48 billion) to building desperately needed infrastructure including new roads to China and a railway connecting the Gobi Desert to Russia.
Mongolia\'s move to open up its vast natural mineral reserves to foreign investors has made it one of the world\'s hottest economies, with growth of 17.3 per cent in the second quarter according to World Bank data.
In 2009, Mongolia sealed a long-awaited multi-billion-dollar deal with Canada\'s Ivanhoe Mines and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto to develop Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world\'s richest copper deposits and a key gold source.