![Police officers monitor passengers at the Taraz railway station January 27, 2017. About 10,000 facilities in Kazakhstan lack adequate protection against terrorist threats, Kazakh officials said December 11. [File]](/cnmi_ca/images/2019/12/11/21377-1-739_416.webp)
NUR-SULTAN -- More than 3,500 educational, cultural and medical buildings in Kazakhstan lack the required measures to protect against potential terrorist attacks, Vlast.kz reported Wednesday (December 11).
Nurlan Nigmatulin, speaker of the lower house of parliament (Mazhilis), made that statement at a session of the Mazhilis and cited findings by the National Security Committee (KNB).
A lack of funding is behind the poor security, said Nigmatulin according to Vlast.kz.
As an effort to address the problem, Kazakhstan, effective January 1, will not allow municipalities to divert funds earmarked for facility protection to other uses, said First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alikhan Smailov.
In accordance with a national counter-terrorism law, police inspect local facilities at least once yearly to evaluate their protection from potential terrorism threats, as Caravanserai reported earlier.
