Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa

• Deliberate demolition of historic buildings
• Ground transport infrastructure
• Planned and ongoing development projects
• Management systems (lack of a Risk Preparedness Plan)
• Lack of management plan (issue resolved)
• Uncontrolled urban development

On 13 February 2015 and 27 January 2016, the State Party submitted annual reports on its actions in 2014 and 2015 respectively. A summary of the 2016 report is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1016/documents/. The State Party’s replies to each of the recommendations of the Committee are as follows:

• No consensus has been reached yet regarding the possible extension of the World Heritage property area and the (re)definition of its buffer zone. However, the Decentralized Directorate of Culture (DDC-Arequipa) declared as Cultural Heritage the right bank, the polygon of Barrio del Vallecito up to the transversal intersection of Selva Alegre and the Traditional Town and Terrace Network of Carmen Alto (Directorial Resolutions 094-DDC-ARE-MC, August 2015 and 062-DDC-ARE-MC, June 2015);
• The Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) on the Chilina Bridge Component has been completed while the assessment of the Via Troncal Interconectora Project is under preparation;
• The joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission was carried out in November 2014 and concluded that, in principle, the Chilina Bridge has no visual impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property. The implementation of the recommendations of the mission is being coordinated by the DDC-Arequipa with the Provincial Municipality of Arequipa;
• The approval of the Master Plan is subject to the approval of the Metropolitan Development Plan as well as the definition of the new boundaries of the historic centre and the buffer zone. The Risk Prevention Management Plan drafted by the Provincial Municipality of Arequipa, through the Management Office for the Historic Centre and the Monumental Zone, was approved by Municipal Ordinance 932-2015 dated 6 October 2015;
• A private company has made a proposal for the construction of a Monorail-Type Mass Rapid Transit System in Arequipa. The Ministry of Culture has asked the company to submit a Preliminary Design for the Public Investment Project, so that it may be evaluated and submitted to the World Heritage Centre. As of this date, this document has not yet been submitted to the Ministry of Culture.

The 2015 and 2016 reports contain substantive annexes related to the issues above as well as progress reports on the preparation of the management plan and re-definition of the World Heritage property and its buffer zones, the Risk Prevention Management Plan, and the work plan for interventions in the Historic Centre during 2016.

The report on the 2014 Reactive Monitoring mission provides important recommendations for the implementation of the Committee’s decision regarding the boundaries of the property and its buffer zone, management, master plan, Risk Prevention Management Plan, metropolitan development plan, Chilina Bridge and the Via Troncal Interconectora and the Monorail project. It is noted with satisfaction that the State Party is taking these recommendations into account in follow-up actions.

As for the extension and/or boundary modifications, it should be reiterated that the 2014 mission and the World Heritage Committee recommended, as a first step, the extension of the buffer zone only as a minor boundary modification. This would avoid entering into a new nomination process and allow the authorities to direct its actions towards urgent conservation and management issues. Therefore, it is recommended that the Committee urge again the State Party to finalize the process of the definition of the extended buffer zone, as a matter of urgency, in order to provide a certain level of protection to the farming terraces and other areas around the property.

It is noted that the construction of the Chilina Bridge was continued in spite of explicit recommendations of the Committee not to continue the works before the completion of an HIA. The 2014 mission expressed the opinion that in principle, the bridge has no visual impact thanks to its lightweight design, horizontality and transparency. However, it also noted that the visual part is only one aspect to be taken into account when assessing potential impacts; there can also be physical, social, cultural and economic aspects, both direct and indirect, cumulative, temporary and permanent, reversible or irreversible. This is confirmed in the HIA submitted by the State Party in February 2015 that states that, as a consequence of the construction of the bridge, the landscape areas are in an accelerated process of transformation with the inclusion of constructions that are out of context. As a positive impact, it is noted that the traffic flow through the Historic Centre has clearly diminished since the construction of the bridge. Corrective and mitigation measures should be developed in response to the results of the HIA.

The cultural HIA on the Via Troncal Interconectora Project should be completed urgently and submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies. Given that the process is currently ongoing, it is recommended that the Committee reiterate its request to the State Party to include the assessment of the potential impacts of the project on the landscape of Lari Lari, Los Tucos, Cayma and Yanahuara.

It is noted with regret that the approval of the Master Plan for the property remains pending until approval of the Metropolitan Development Plan. In this sense the protection of the boundaries of the property and its buffer zone, in particular the agricultural areas, remains a matter of concern. It is imperative that the revision process of the Metropolitan Development Plan includes all stakeholders in order to coordinate all efforts to protect the property.

It is also recommended that the Committee congratulate the State Party for the approval of the Risk Prevention Management Plan and for the preliminary information about a Monorail Mass Rapid Transit System. The potential impact of such a transportation system should be very carefully analyzed and preliminary designs are indeed required for an in-depth analysis by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies. The State Party should be urged very strongly not to proceed with the further development of the project before the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies are in the position to provide appropriate advice on the project.