Doniyor Ganiyev, member of parliament, requested clarification on the category of land plot exchanged between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan that had ignited hot debates on social networks at the meeting of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis on November 14.
Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov came forward to answer the question.
“In fact, in the information spread on the Internet, the unconfirmed numbers, as you said, were widely discussed. 1 thousand 19 hectares of pasture land from the Kurgantepa district of Andijan region is being given to Kyrgyzstan for the Andijan reservoir. Of course, the area of the water reservoir is about 5,000 hectares, and a natural question arises as to how the rest of the land was dealt with.
The remaining of land, i.e. more than 4,000 hectares, was given by Uzbekistan as compensation for the Andijan reservoir during the former Union (in the 1970s). During the study of archive documents, it became known that during the time, Uzbekistan undertook to build more than 200 km of the Kampirabad left bank canal. Unfortunately, for various reasons, this channel was not completed. Kyrgyzstan has been emphasizing for many years that due to the non-fulfilment of this obligation, a large amount of land - from 8,000 to 18,000 hectares - remained untouched,” the Prime minister said.
If Uzbekistan had built this canal and additional hydro-technical facilities from the "Andijan" reservoir to the Botken region of Kyrgyzstan, a lot of funds would have been required. In addition, more than 20 settlements in Andijan and Fergana regions will be relocated.
“The saddest part is that we could lose more than 2,000 hectares of agricultural land. Therefore, it is proposed to offset about 12,700 hectares of pasture land in the mountainous area of the Govasoy section in the Pop and Chust districts of the Namangan region. Our elected deputies from the Namangan region have information that 6,000 hectares of the proposed Govasay site is a disputed area and is actually being used by Kyrgyz people. If we calculate, we are proposing 12,700 hectares of pasture land for more than 8,000 hectares of unused agricultural land.
International practice, it is recommended to give 2.5 times more pasture land for one hectare of cultivated land, in border disputes. In the proposed draft law, instead of 19.5 thousand hectares, 13 thousand 719 hectares of pasture land will be allocated to the Kyrgyz side as compensation (4 thousand 127 hectares were given earlier), - Aripov concluded.
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