Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (Egypt)
The Committee studied the report of the Secretariat and the information communicated by the Supreme Council of Antiquities on the situation at the World Heritage site of Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur concerning the following:
a) the ongoing construction of a highway cutting in two the site of the World Heritage site at Zawyat al-Eryan, at about 2 kms south of the Sphynx;
b) the ongoing construction of about 3,000 lodgings in the buffer zone at Kafr el Gabal and of houses on the site itself;
c) the numerous and new encroachments of the military camps on the listed site, notably at Zawyat al-Eryan, Shabramant and Dahshur, as well as pollution caused by an army factory at Dahshur;
d) the construction of a tarmac road within the site allowing access to the two large refuse dumps, newly created, in the site.
Thereupon the Committee expressed its strong concern to the Egyptian national authorities with regard to all of these developments which gravely threaten the integrity of the World Heritage site, its known and unknown archaeological treasures, and cause irreparable damage if not halted.
Consequently, the Committee requested the Egyptian authorities to take the necessary measures to immediately halt these different activities and to repair the damage already caused without delay. It also requested the authorities to submit to the World Heritage Centre by 1 May 1995 a detailed report on the safeguarding activities undertaken at the site, which will be presented to the nineteenth session of the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee for examination and decision as to whether or not to recommend placing this site on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
It fully endorsed the Director-General's decision to thank President Moubarak of Egypt for his intervention to halt the work presently in progress. It also endorsed the Director-General's request that the President continues to be attentive to this matter and take action in order that an alternative route be traced beyond the boundaries of the World Heritage site and that the property be restored to its former state.