Choir. Gobi-Sumber aimag.
GOVI-SUMBER AIMAG
CHOIR
Choir. Choir (Mongolian: Чойр) is a city in east-central Mongolia. It
is the capital of Govisumber Province. Choir is officially known as Sumber sum.
Choir, about halfway between Sainshand and Ulaanbaatar, is a
town with one foot in the past and the other in the future. Unfortunately the present is pretty grim. The only reason to visit Choir is to explore the
nearby springs at Khalzan Uul, or to refuel between Ulaanbaatar and Sainshand.
Around 15km north of the town is the village of Lun Bag, the site of the largest Soviet air base in Mongolia. The Russians departed in 1992, leaving
behind an eerie ghost town of concrete buildings and statues of MiG fighters. Some of the flats, which formerly housed military personnel, are
now occupied by Mongolian families, but many sit empty, the windows broken, the plumbing ripped out and the walls scrawled with graffiti. The Russians
left behind something else: the best paved runway in Mongolia.
To promote rapid economic growth, Choir formally seceded from Dornogov - it is now an autonomous municipality called Gov-Sumber, with a population of
13,300 - and was declared a Free Trade Zone. Nothing much was done to promote the area; development was postponed after the change of government
in 1996 and is unlikely to take place in the near future.
Choir was a military base during the Soviet period. In 1989, the Soviet
anti-aircraft missile units left Choir. The longest runway in Mongolia, now
abandoned, is located 25 km N from Choir, a relic of that period. In 1992, the
military cantonment passed into the jurisdiction of Govisümber Province,
according to the 1992 constitution. Near the railway station is a statue
commemorating Mongolia's first cosmonaut, Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa.
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