Unsupportive legal and regulatory processes

Adequate consideration of the legal and administrative contexts of projects and the need for participatory democratic processes is a must to ensure that the timelines for achieving compliance with tariff-related reform covenants are not ambitious, as the case with this project.

Unforeseeable changes in the regulatory framework introduced after project approval can result in changes in project design and scope. In this case, it prompted lengthy discussions that ended up with the cancellation of one output. The experience needs to be considered for projects that plan to address complex issues with multisectoral involvement in countries like Mongolia that are still transitioning and frequently introduce changes in the existing regulations.