CHIMKENT. Sept 1 (Interfax-AVN) - Kazakhstan, as well as Uzbekistan, may construct barriers on the border between the two countries, deputy head of the Southern Kazakhstan region Kenzhekhan Tulebayev told Interfax.
Right now, he said, the border community "has not psychologically gotten used to the idea that the border is a real thing." Because of this, border posts are "sometimes used by the local people to tie up their livestock," he said.
"However, with the conclusion of the border demarcation, the situation will change. The Uzbek side is already stretching barbed wire across their border. We will do the same," said Tulebayev.
Defining Kazakhstan's plans for developing the border with Uzbekistan, Tulebayev said that since the beginning of 2004, the Saryagash border guard detachment, located in the Southern Kazakhstan region, had detained 2,481 people illegally crossing the border, prevented 239 cases of contraband and seized contraband worth 30 million tenge ($221,220).
Demarcation work on the Kazakh-Uzbek border began last spring.
Tulebayev said that since demarcation had begun, the Kazakh side has put up 337 border signs, 213 main ones and 124 intermediary ones.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek side has put up fewer than 100 signs, citing a lack of funds, he said.
He also said that, at 14 places, the border cuts across residential buildings and that the sides still have to decide exactly where the border lies in these sections.
"We are trying to find a solution. So far, no one is being evicted from the border. But if such a need arises, Kazakhstan will compensate for the housing and the land of its citizens," said Tulebayev.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will have to place up to 3,000 signs on their common border, including 1,500 border posts. It is expected that the demarcation of the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border will take up to three years.
The delimitation of the inter-state border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was finished in September of 2002. Its total distance is greater than 2,000 kilometers, including 800 kilometers between the Southern Kazakhstan province and Uzbekistan.