Colonial City of Santo Domingo

• Legal framework (undefined and unregulated buffer zone leading to urban development pressure and inadequate control of land use)
• Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation
• Management systems
• Interpretative and visitation facilities
• Vulnerability to earthquakes and hurricanes
• Deterioration of historic structures derived from natural and social factors (including environmental pollution and lack of sensitization of local residents)
• Urban development project (Sansouci)

On 11 December 2015, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/526/documents/ and in which the State Party reaffirms that all interventions affecting the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property require the participation and approval of the National Directorate for Monumental Heritage (DNPM) and the local authorities. This is periodically communicated to all parties intervening in the area, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) currently financing a major tourism development programme at the property.

As for the specific recommendations in paragraph 6 of Decision 38 COM 7B.42, it is reported that:

• The buffer zone on the eastern side of the colonial city was approved by Ordinance 02-15 of the Municipality of Santo Domingo East dated 22 May 2015; however it does not coincide with the one proposed by the DNPM as it establishes Avenida España as the boundary of the buffer zone instead of a parallel line 100m further to the east;
• The revision of the draft Law for the Protection, Safeguarding and Development of Cultural Heritage has been postponed until the finalization of the updating of Law 41-00 that creates the State Secretary of Culture;
• The professional capacity of the DNPM has been significantly affected since a number of its staff has sought employment in other institutions and projects intervening in the Colonial City;
• The Steering Committee for coordinating interventions in the Colonial City is unable to function properly since the required quorum and consensual decision-making cannot be achieved due to the non-participation of one of the parties. The Ministry of Culture has drafted a Decree to modify the quorum required to remedy this situation;
• The subway project foresees three stations in the Colonial City. Although studies concluded that the project is technically feasible and does not constitute any risk to the built heritage, the Ministry of Culture has proposed the implementation of only one station (Parque Independencia) and the establisment of a multimodal transport system with the use of microbuses considered as more adapted with the property;
• The Sansouci project is still in the design phase and its promoters have communicated that no constructions are foreseen within the recently established buffer zone.

Furthermore, due to infrastructural works undertaken by the IDB Tourism Development Programme, part of the Hotel Frances, dating from the 16th century, collapsed. An extensive assessment of the causes of the collapse is annexed to the report.

Finally, the report includes information on the proposed construction, in the framework of the IDB Programme, of a conference centre in and next to the ruins of the monastery of San Francisco. It states that the terms of the competition of the project were elaborated without the participation of the DNPM and the consensus of the population, and as a result the winning project was publicly and massively rejected; therefore its implementation has been halted. The report states that this reaction confirms the necessity that all projects need to be formulated, from the beginning, with the management institutions and with the population.

The report contains encouraging information on the adoption of a buffer zone to the east of the World Heritage property and regarding the development of the Sansouci project. The State Party should be requested formally to submit the buffer zone to the World Heritage Committee as a minor boundary modification and present the further urban and architectural designs for the Sansouci project for in-depth evaluation by ICOMOS.

While the report provides updated information on the process for the new Law for the Protection, Safeguarding and Development of Cultural Heritage, on the strengthening of the national institution responsible for the cultural heritage (National Directorate for Monumental Heritage DNPM) and regarding the proposals for a subway line through the Colonial City, it is noted that no concluding results have been reported yet. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to provide detailed information regarding these issues as soon as they become available.

The statement by the State Party that all actions within the World Heritage property require the participation and approval of the institutions that are responsible for its management and conservation is welcomed. However, the State Party report illustrates particularly that the capacity of the National Directorate for Monumental Heritage to exercise and enforce its legal competencies is limited and that its role and responsibilities are not generally recognized by other parties that are implementing interventions in the area. A case in point is the Steering Committee that was created for coordination and joint decision making but remains to be functional due to the non-participation of one of the parties. The lack of coordinated action between the national and local institutions and the IDB-financed Tourism Development programme is highly regrettable. This situation may also have been a factor in the collapse of the Hotel Frances.

The State Party information on the project for a convention centre at the site of the ruins of San Francisco is of serious concern. The 2015 ICOMOS technical review of the project affirms that, beyond the justified governmental objective to promote tourism, it is fundamental to prioritize, above all, the conservation and protection of the property and that an updated study of the real capacity of the Colonial City and its monuments to assimilate tourism and the formulation of indicators on the admissible loads should be elaborated, approved by the Heritage authorities and, if possible, submitted to the World Heritage Centre for assessment by ICOMOS.