The Vanishing Power Plant

In a neglected corner of peri-urban Ulaanbaatar’s sprawling post-socialist slums,the livelihood of dozens of households has over recent years been affected by a largeinfrastructure project that will never be built. ‘Power Plant #5’ was originally tendered toa Chinese construction firm in 2008 as part of a national strategy to develop Mongolia’senergy production to meet new needs. Taking its departure in the story of a poverty-strickenwoman long employed as a caretaker by a mysterious organization allegedly incharge of Power Plant #5, this article explores the peculiar dynamics by which lackingknowledge about this and other infrastructural projects in contemporary Mongolia feedsinto dispossessed people’s dreams about and plans for the future. Indeed, it suggests thatignorance itself may be conceived of as an infrastructure in its own right, insofar as itconstitutes a ground from which certainty as well as uncertainty emerge.