The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has formally requested that the Albanian government “urgently” halt all work on the Gjirokaster Bypass until a mission has assessed the impact of the project on the value of the city as a World Heritage Site.
A draft resolution was published by UNESCO last week. It spoke of the “very worrying situation” in Gjirokaster as the bypass appears to already be under construction. They noted that the Albanian government had failed to respond to requests for additional information on the project.
The draft was approved by the Committee that is currently in session in China. There were no objections or requests to discuss the resolution so it was passed unanimously and the ‘draft’ has now become the final version.
A media spokesperson from UNESCO confirmed:
“The Draft decision was approved without discussions. It is now the final version of the decision.”
The resolution states in no uncertain terms that they “urgently request the State Party to halt construction of the bypass 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 damage to its Outstanding Universal Value.”
Not only should the Albanian government cease all works immediately, but they have been asked to invite an official monitoring mission to Gjirokaster to assess the bypass project and all construction projects being implemented in the city.
With regards to the other projects, the Committee call on the Albanian government to take previous comments and recommendations for improvements into account. This also includes awaiting further review from their experts before proceeding with various interventions.
They also call on Albania to submit an updated conservation report and to provide any development proposals to UNESCO prior to their implementation, in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines.
Minister of Culture Elva Margariti previously denied the contents of the resolution and said that the media reporting it, Exit News, was “abusive”. This was despite the publication of the draft on the official UNESCO website.
Exit has contacted Margariti, the Mayor of Gjirokaster, and the Deputy Mayor for comment, but no response has been forthcoming at the time of publication.
