The government of Mongolia and the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) broke ground today on a $93 million Advanced Water Purification Plant (AWPP) in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar.

The President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh invited U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski, MCC’s Deputy Resident Country Director Eric Guetschoff, and members of the Millennium Challenge Account-Mongolia (MCA-Mongolia) to celebrate starting the first major infrastructure project in the $350 million Mongolia Water Compact.

“The U.S. government is supporting Mongolia’s economic growth using grant financing when possible,” explained Ambassador Klecheski, “because we believe that growing democracies benefit from programs that do not lead to too much debt.”

The new state-of-the-art AWPP will supply up to 50 million cubic meters of water annually, boosting the bulk water supply production capacity in Ulaanbaatar by 65 percent over its lifetime. The AWPP is part of a phased, five-year compact that will ultimately increase Ulaanbaatar’s water supply production capacity by 80 percent.