Asbestos-Coated Heating Pipes, Construction Materials A

UNCLAS ULAANBAATAR 000696

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM, EAP/EX, AND EB/IFD/OMA
MANILA AND LONDON PASSS TO ADB, EBRD USEDS
BANGKOK FOR USAID RDMA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ENRG SENV EFIN SOCI PGOV MG
SUBJECT: Asbestos-Coated Heating Pipes, Construction Materials A
Clear And Present Danger to Ulaanbaatar's Residents?


1. Asbestos and cement covered pipes that make up Ulaanbaatar's aged
and decaying centralized heating system may constitute a significant
unidentified health risk. Of the 286 kilometers of heating pipes
that snake through the city, estimates indicate 91% are coated with
asbestos-cement insulation. Some 83.2 kilometers of piping are
above ground, much of it near residences or workplaces, where it is
exposed to the harsh and destructive Mongolian climate and
susceptible to more rapid decay.

Asbestos Insulation Also Used in Building Construction
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2. Some NGO reps note that street children and the homeless, who
often camp near underground heating pipes to escape the cold of
winter, are particularly vulnerable to increased direct exposure to
asbestos particles from exfoliating and crumbling sections of pipe.
The public at large is also at risk due to exposure to
asbestos-laden building materials and piping insulation. There are
currently no special disposal procedures for removal of
asbestos-laden building materials and waste is simply deposited in
the city's single open pit landfill, Ulaanchuluut, located near
several ger communities in the city's northwest quadrant. Replaced
heating pipes are often resold as scrap metal with little effort
given to sandblast away remnants of the asbestos coating.

GOM Health Experts Down Play Asbestos Risk But...
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3. While fully cognizant of the dangers presented by exposure to
asbestos, many of the health experts post spoke with had never
viewed the use of asbestos as insulation for heating pipes as a
threat to public health. Some even argued that concentrations of
asbestos fiber dust from crumbling pipe sealants are not high enough
to represent a serious danger. Ditto for construction materials use
and disposal. They admit, however, it can take from 10 to 40 years
or more for symptoms of asbestos-related conditions to manifest
themselves and Mongolia's underdeveloped health care system lacks
the capacity to diagnose these diseases properly. Furthermore,
local laboratories do not abide by internationally accepted testing
standards, making determinations about the affects of asbestos
exposure to the general population difficult to discern. Finally,
given the prevalence of asbestos used in constructions, especially
in structures build before 1990, it would be hard to determine the
real source of any asbestos-related illness.

... Banned Its Use And Are Slowing Replacing Pipes
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4. The GOM has long been aware of the dangers of asbestos. The use
of asbestos cement sheets was commonplace for buildings constructed
before the 1990s, when the country was under Soviet domination.
Mongolian building codes now prohibit asbestos in new construction
and heating pipes extensions for new developments are coated with
polyurethane. Damaged sections of pipe are replaced with
polyurethane covered piping. However, according the Ministry of
Fuels and Energy, less than 10 kilometers of Ulaanbaatar's heating
pipe system are asbestos free.


5. Because the GOM's expressed desire to replace all exposed
asbestos piping with polyurethane coated pipes has been stymied by
the high cost, around US$1 million per kilometer, it has instead
sought donor assistance but with middling results. The Asia
Development Bank, GTZ, Germany's development assistance
organization, and the Korean aid agency, KOIKA, have engaged in
limited asbestos removal programs, but usually in connection with
broader projects on heating deliverance systems or urban
construction.

Minton