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28COM 15B.58

Decision Text

The World Heritage Committee,
1. Takes note of the UNESCO-ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission findings
and recommendations concerning the World Heritage properties of Taj Mahal,
Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri;
2. Congratulates the Indian authorities for having suspended the “Taj Corridor
Project”;
3. Underscores the importance of reinforcing the management and regional
development planning mechanism relating to the protection of World Heritage
properties in the Agra District;
4. Requests the State Party to:
a) set up a body to coordinate and address all the conservation and
development challenges of the three World Heritage properties in the Agra
District by involving all the stakeholders,
b) evaluate and possibly redefine the World Heritage protective boundaries
and management guidelines pertaining to the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
Note should be taken of recent research which indicates that the original
design of the Taj monument included the Mehtab Bagh and other relocated
cultural properties across the Yamuna River. These constitute an essential
part of the whole area and therefore require integrated protection,
c) integrate the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort as one protected World Heritage
area to ensure better management of the property, with a possible inclusion
of Fatehpur Sikri subject to a broader regional planning scheme
d) elaborate a comprehensive site management plan, including a specific
visitor management plan, based on a regional plan for conservation and
development of the World Heritage properties, and ensure its
implementation,
e) improve the on-site interpretation and visitor management at the World
Heritage properties,
f) set up on-site monitoring mechanisms, by using traditional and new
technological means, to assess the impact of urban development on the
World Heritage values of the properties and their surrounding areas so as to
integrate the protection of urban landscape into the overall heritage
protection mechanism;
5. Further requests the State Party, as a first step, to organize a National
Workshop on the Elaboration of Site Management Plans for the preparation of
the World Heritage extension(s), including the upgrading of the protective
boundary and buffer zones;
6. Requests the World Heritage Centre, the Advisory Bodies and other
international partners to support and strengthen co-operation activities with the
competent national and local authorities by providing appropriate assistance;
7. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1
February 2005, a report on the progress achieved in the implementation of the
above-mentioned recommendations, for examination by the Committee at its
29th session in 2005

Documents

• Original Decision Document