The governments of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan will set up a joint venture to manage the Kempir-Abad (Andijan) reservoir on the border of the two countries, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said on his Facebook page.
He said that he had met with concerned residents of the districts located near the Kempir-Abad reservoir and explained them the situation regarding the clarification of the borders of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is expected that the two countries would complete the process of delimitation and demarcation of borders before the year-end.
“In general, almost 99% of the disputed lands are in our favor. Kempir-Abad was previously completely controlled by the Uzbek side, but now we have agreed that we will create a joint venture with 50/50 shares and will jointly manage the [reservoir] dam,” he wrote.
According to the Kyrgyz leader, the water level of the reservoir will be lowered from the 908th to the 900th. As a result, 1246 hectares of land on the banks of the reservoir will be released and the Kyrgyz people will be able to use them for agriculture.
In addition, Sadyr Japarov said that after some time the fate of the remaining border areas would be announced, probably referring to the results of negotiations on the delimitation of borders with Uzbekistan.
The reservoir is located on the borders of the Andijan province of Uzbekistan and the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions of Kyrgyzstan. It was built in 1983. The waters of the Tar, Kara-Kuldzha and Kara-Darya rivers flow into it.
