UNESCO demands explanation for industrial town on perimeter of Bisotun
The establishment of the industrial town will breach the territory determined by the center for Bisotun, which was registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on July 13 during the 30th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Vilnius, Lithuania. The ancient Iranian site bears bas-reliefs and inscriptions of Darius the Great.
Every new construction and every major change in the territory must be approved by the World Heritage Center beforehand, the UNESCO officials wrote in the letter.
The industrial town is to be established on 90 hectares beside the village of Bazanabad, located three kilometers away from Bisotun.
“UNESCO has determined 250 square kilometers of territory for Bisotun, and Bazanabad village is located in this area,” Bisotun Grand Project managing director Maliheh Mehdiabadi said in early August.
“So far, we have not received any application for construction of any factory in this region. The national and world demarcations of the site are absolutely clear. All companies and governmental organizations were informed about the national demarcation in April 2005. Thus, I don’t think any organization or company will engage in the construction of any building here,” she added at the time.
However, the construction of Hersin was approved by the Planning Council of Kermanshah Province last year and 30 hectares of the region have been purchased from the villagers.
Construction projects had previously caused difficulties for the registration of Bisotun on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, but Kermanshah provincial officials and cultural heritage officials eventually reached a consensus that all construction projects would be prohibited in the region and the companies that had been active in the area would transfer their work elsewhere.