Decision 44 COM 7B.151

Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra (Albania) (C 569bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7B.79, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Notes the implementation of the Law “On Cultural Heritage and Museums” and subsequent development of by-laws to create various cultural heritage councils to strengthen and improve the conservation and management of the property, the restoration and maintenance work undertaken during 2019 and 2020 to the built fabric of the property, and the implementation of the monitoring indicators and establishment of a system for building approvals in the management of the property and its buffer zones;
4. Welcomes the submission of the various project proposals of the Project for Integrated Urban Development (PIUTD)-component, apart from the by-pass road for Gjirokastra and, noting that the PIUTD project has tourism development as central aim, requests the State Party to:
   1. take into account the comments and recommendations provided by ICOMOS to improve the projects presented in Annexes 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 of its state of conservation report, for the further development of the project proposals and before their implementation,
   2. await further review by the Advisory Bodies of the projects presented in the Annexes 6 and 7 of its state of conservation report before taking any further decisions about their implementation;
   3. diversify its development plans, to stimulate a broad resilient economic basis for the future of the property;
5. Reiterates its request to the State Party that the Integrated Management Plan (IMP) be completed urgently taking on-board the previous requests of the Committee and be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before its implementation;
6. Also notes the information received from the State Party in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines about new plans for a by-pass road in Gjirokastra and further notes third party reports that this by-pass road is already under construction, and therefore urgently requests the State Party to halt construction of the by-pass until such a time as a Reactive Monitoring mission has been able to visit the property to assess if the project has caused or will cause any damage to its Outstanding Universal Value;
7. Further requests the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to assess progress made in the state of conservation of the entire property, provide guidance on the development of the IMP, evaluate the efficacy of development controls and monitoring indicators, and assess the Gjirokastra by-pass project;
8. Encourages the State Party to continue providing the World Heritage Centre any development proposals before their official approval, in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, for review by the Advisory Bodies;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2022, 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 45th session.