Decision 40 COM 7B.5

City of Quito (Ecuador) (C 2)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/16/40.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 7B.43, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Commends the State Party for its commitment to implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee, the 2013 ICOMOS Advisory mission and the recent technical reviews;
4. Welcomes the adoption of the Metropolitan Plan for Development and Territorial Management 2015-2025 (PMDOT) that explicitly incorporates cultural heritage as one of its key elements, and its alignment with the Management Plan and encourages the State Party to finalize the updating process of the Management Plan as soon as possible, and to submit it to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies;
5. Noting that subway project now includes only one station within the historical centre, precisely at the emblematic San Francisco Square, and that the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) did not evaluate the potential impact of alternative locations, requests the State Party, before a final decision is taken on the Metro station location, to apply the HIA methodology to all potential alternative locations, to allow a thorough examination of the proposed options, and to submit the outcomes of this evaluation to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS;
6. Welcomes the initiative of the State Party to invite a second ICOMOS Advisory mission to advise further, with a view to supporting the conservation and management of the property and facilitating the successful implementation of the subway project in a manner that will not adversely impact upon the OUV of the property;
7. Recommends that the Terms of Reference of this Advisory mission include the review of the follow-up given by the State Party to earlier recommendations of the Committee and ICOMOS, the assessment of the new management and planning mechanisms, the subway project including alternative station locations and other matters raised by ICOMOS in the technical review of the HIA, as well as projects such as the Compañia de Jesús project among others, also taking into consideration the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscapes (HUL);
8. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2017, 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 41st session in 2017.