Decision 39 COM 7A.41

Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) (C 708)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7A,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 7A.17, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Welcomes the efforts made by the State Party to improve the protection of all components of the property and its buffer zone and, more particularly, introducing a moratorium on any development in the zone next to the Aragvi and Mtgvari rivers banks declared as a non aedeficandi zone until the Urban Land-Use Master Plan and unified buffer zone are approved and implemented to curb uncontrolled development;
4. Notes with appreciation that an inter-ministerial coordination mechanism has been established with the purpose to ensure that the conservation of World Heritage properties receive priority consideration within the governmental decision-making processes and that a Heritage Code and a World Heritage law are currently in the last stages of approval by the respective authorities and encourages the State Party to sustain these efforts and to secure that all necessary resources and regulatory regimes are in place;
5. Acknowledges the steps taken in addressing the corrective measures through training and capacity building activities, as well as the development, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and partnership with the World Bank, of a project towards the completion of the Urban Master Plan, as well as strengthening the management system through the self-governing status bestowed to the City of Mtskheta and the cooperation agreement with the Patriarchate of Georgia, ensuring co-management of protection and conservation of historical churches;
6. Takes note of the findings and recommendations made by the joint ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission and the joint World Heritage Centre/World Bank Advisory mission, carried out to the property in November 2014;
7. Reiterates its request to the State Party to establish a unified buffer zone, to encompass the landscape surrounding the components, including in particular the panorama along the rivers and the mountain setting, and provide this enlarged buffer zone with appropriate protection, and to submit a minor boundary modification proposal of the unified buffer zone of the property to the World Heritage Centre, prior to any further works being completed on the Urban Land-Use Master Plan;
8. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, technical details, including Heritage Impact Assessments, for all proposed projects that may have a negative impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
9. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2016, an updated report, including a 1-page executive summary, on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 40th session in 2016;
10. Decides to retain the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) on the List of World Heritage in Danger and to examine the implementation of the corrective measures at its 40th session in 2016, in view of the possible removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger.