Group of Monuments at Hampi

a) Design and location of transport infrastructure near inscribed monuments;

b) Lack of coordination and resource support for site management;

c) Lack of building and land-use regulations;

d) Tourism development pressures;

e) Lack of traffic regulations limiting heavy duty vehicular traffic;

f) Pressure from illegal constructions. 

Total amount provided to the property: Funding under the France-UNESCO Convention for expert missions (2003, 2005 and 2006) for an amount of 14,000 Euros. 

The State Party submitted a report to the World Heritage Centre on 1 February 2008, which provides the following information:

a) The integrated management plan (IMP) has not yet been approved;.

b) Progress has been made on staffing; however, additional staffing is still needed to fully implement the IMP. A request has been submitted to the relevant authority, but has not yet been approved;

c) An alternative location for a new Interpretation Centre at Kamalapuram has been chosen, and the process of selecting an architect has begun. The existing site is proposed as a temporary parking lot until a transportation study is completed;

d) The Master Plan developed by the Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority (HWHAMA) was finalized in November 2007 and was sent in January 2008 to the Government of Karnataka for final adoption;

e) A task force has been constituted by the HWHAMA to monitor unauthorized and illegal construction activities. Partial demolition of “illegal commercial establishments in Hampi” has been undertaken, and a comprehensive security plan has been finalized;

f) The Government of Karnataka prepared traffic regulations for banning of heavy goods vehicles and heavy passenger motor vehicles near Hampi World Heritage Area at the roads connecting Hampi to Anegundi and these were published in March 2007. These have not been submitted to the World Heritage Centre;

g) The Public Works Department, Government of Karnataka, has been given guidelines by the HWHAMA to reduce the width of the bridge, to ensure the bridge finishes are compatible with their surroundings, and for the installation of traffic barriers;

h) The process of developing a Statement of Significance to be appended to the IMP is on-going. A Statement of outstanding universal value will be developed in due course;

i) Information was provided on the boundaries of the property and its buffer zones, which do not correspond to the information already held by the World Heritage Centre.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies consider that the current responses to the long term management questions raised at the 30th session of the World Heritage Committee (Vilnius, 2006) do not fully address all of the concerns, in particular:

a) modifying the design and dimensions of the Anegundi Bridge and putting in place traffic regulations for heavy vehicles;

b) approval and implementation of the IMP based on a revised Statement of outstanding universal value;

c) clarification of the boundaries of the property and its buffer zones;

d) limited human and financial resources to allow the implementation of the IMP.

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies also consider it important to ensure that the implementation of the IMP by the HWHAMA is fully integrated into the State and National Planning framework, particularly for tourism and urban development.