Decision 45 COM 7B.186

Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) (C 708bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 44 COM 7B.48 adopted at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021),
3. Acknowledges the State Party’s continued efforts to advance the development of the ‘Management Documentation for Spatial Territorial Development of Mtskheta’, including Mtskheta Urban Land Use Master Plan (ULUMP), and reiterates its request that the drafts of the main components of ULUMP be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, no later than 1 February 2024;
4. Commends the State Party for its decision to maintain the ‘Enactment of Special Regime of Regulation of Urban Development and Land Privatization in the Cultural Heritage Protection Zones of Mtskheta Municipality’ (the Moratorium) until the ‘Management Documentation for Spatial Territorial Development of Mtskheta’ has been adopted, and until all the necessary control and monitoring systems have been put in place, and encourages the State Party to strictly implement the Moratorium in the meantime;
5. Welcomes the ongoing and planned conservation works at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral Church, Jvari Monastery Complex and Samtavro Monastery taking into account ICOMOS recommendations on these projects in order to complete the procedures or considering additional aspects for their documentation, analysis, conservation and protection measures;
6. Invites the State Party to continue to implement the recommendations of the 2018 Advisory mission as well as to take into account the recommendations included in relevant ICOMOS Technical Reviews to ensure that actions with negative impacts on the World Heritage property are avoided;
7. Encourages the State Party to continue to submit, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, detailed information on all proposed development within the property, its buffer zone and its wider setting, for review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies prior to any decisions being taken that could be difficult to reverse;
8. Takes note that no major development project other than the Tbilisi Wind Power Plant project is currently planned in the setting of the World Heritage property, requests that an update of its status be submitted to the World Heritage Centre, and invites the State Party to continue to ensure that Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) for development projects are undertaken, assessing the multiple and cumulative impacts of current and planned developments and taking into account potential impacts on the OUV of the property, in accordance with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context;
9. Requests furthermore the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2024, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 47th session.