VII.47 Taxila (Pakistan)
The Committee noted that the Bureau at its nineteenth session requested the Department of Archaeology & Museums, in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, to (i) carry out the required scientific studies on vegetation control to minimize the damage to the masonry and structure of the monuments, and (ii) appraise the impact of the heavy industries and the stone quarrying in the Taxila Valley areas, identified during the systematic monitoring mission carried out in March-April 1995.
It noted that the Government of Pakistan submitted a technical cooperation request to carry out the vegetation control study and that the Centre had assisted the DOAM to prepare a project proposal to address the issues referred to under (ii) above which includes activities to redefine if necessary, the boundaries of the Taxila World Heritage site and a thorough study of the legal regimes protecting the Taxila Valley.
The Committee commended the Department of Archaeology and Museums and other concerned bodies of the Government of Pakistan for their enthusiastic undertaking of the systematic monitoring exercise which enabled the joint DOAM-UNESCO teams to complete within 1995, the state of conservation draft reports on five of the six World Heritage cultural properties in Pakistan. It invited the Pakistani authorities to submit a proposed revision of the Taxila site in due course.