More than 6,000 people donate MNT 109 million in six days to "people's petrol station" initiative

More than 6,000 people donated MNT 109 million in six days to a "people's petrol station" initiative — a plan to build a fuel station with public donations — launched by M. Orkhontuul, a citizen who has campaigned on fuel quality and prices for years, he told LiveTV.mn.

According to Orkhontuul, the initiative grew out of repeated public requests, and its main aim is to import quality fuel directly from Russia and sell it to the public at the lowest possible price. He argues that fuel quality problems began seven or eight years ago, and that low-quality, blended fuel flooded the market after the state held retail fuel prices down for a long period.

Orkhontuul said not a single tugrik of the money raised has been spent so far, and that a transparent "glass account" is being set up so donors can track the date and time of their transfers. He promised that if the initiative fails, every donor will get their money back in full. He also said he plans to travel to Russia to meet oil-sector organisations in person and look for a way forward.

He said the station would belong to the public rather than to any individual, and that donors would be entitled either to hold shares once the station is built or to buy fuel regularly at a discount.

The initiative has drawn mixed reactions on X. LiveTV.mn's post about it was viewed more than 10,000 times, while one user who writes about economic policy questioned the plan, saying a new mid-sized station with two pumps and 40,000–60,000 litres of storage costs at least MNT 1.5–2 billion. Fuel prices and quality have been in the spotlight recently: BloombergTV Mongolia estimates that fuel prices contributed 2.8 percentage points to annual inflation, which reached 13.4% in October.