Surveyors retreat as they await Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities to allocate more funds.

Marked fresh boundary pillars President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania Counterpart John Magufuli were to access in Macalder in Migori on the Kenya and Tanzania border. The two sides are currently re-affirming the existing boundaries as per AU recommendations.

The fresh demarcation of international boundaries between Kenya and Tanzania has been stopped temporarily due to lack of funds.

The process is meant to re-affirm the pillars laid by colonial governments and is carried out every 10 years.

The exercise includes monumentation, described as the process of placing markers on a surveyed area for the purpose of distinguishing identified boundaries.

Surveyors from both countries have gone back to their governments for more money before the process restarts.

Yesterday, The Standard established that the exercise had cost Kenya Sh65 million so far. The money has been spent over the last three months.

Julius Rotich, head of Kenya International Boundaries, said 240km had so far been covered from Lake Victoria to Lake Natron.

The lake is in Arusha in northern Tanzania and borders Narok County.

"We hope to resume in two months, when additional cash has been allocated to the exercise," said Mr Rotich.

"Monumentation helps to establish control points on the surveyed land to enable surveyors to get accurate measurements in future."

He said the demarcation mainly involved re-establishing destroyed boundary pillars and building others where none existed. They will then draft a comprehensive agreement on the boundary between Kenya and Tanzania.

"We are only tracing the pillars erected by the colonial government, some of which have either been destroyed, pulled down by those living along the border or have decayed," said Rotich.

At the end of the exercise, the two countries will update their records to capture the new physical features of the demarcated land.

The boundaries are demarcated according to river courses and other natural features.