Decision 28 COM 15B.58

Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Takes note of the UNESCO-ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission findings and recommendations concerning the World Heritage properties of Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri;
2. Congratulates the Indian authorities for having suspended the “Taj Corridor Project”;
3. Underscores the importance of reinforcing the management and regional development planning mechanism relating to the protection of World Heritage properties in the Agra District;
4. Requests the State Party to:
   1. set up a body to coordinate and address all the conservation and development challenges of the three World Heritage properties in the Agra District by involving all the stakeholders,
   2. evaluate and possibly redefine the World Heritage protective boundaries and management guidelines pertaining to the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Note should be taken of recent research which indicates that the original design of the Taj monument included the Mehtab Bagh and other relocated cultural properties across the Yamuna River. These constitute an essential part of the whole area and therefore require integrated protection,
   3. integrate the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort as one protected World Heritage area to ensure better management of the property, with a possible inclusion of Fatehpur Sikri subject to a broader regional planning scheme
   4. elaborate a comprehensive site management plan, including a specific visitor management plan, based on a regional plan for conservation and development of the World Heritage properties, and ensure its implementation,
   5. improve the on-site interpretation and visitor management at the World Heritage properties,
   6. set up on-site monitoring mechanisms, by using traditional and new technological means, to assess the impact of urban development on the World Heritage values of the properties and their surrounding areas so as to integrate the protection of urban landscape into the overall heritage protection mechanism;
5. Further requests the State Party, as a first step, to organize a National Workshop on the Elaboration of Site Management Plans for the preparation of the World Heritage extension(s), including the upgrading of the protective boundary and buffer zones;
6. Requests the World Heritage Centre, the Advisory Bodies and other international partners to support and strengthen co-operation activities with the competent national and local authorities by providing appropriate assistance;
7. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2005, a report on the progress achieved in the implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations, for examination by the Committee at its 29th session in 2005