‘Heritage status is 2.2 yrs away’
Says Syed Idid, the urban design expert who helped Melaka, Malaysia, become a World Heritage City.
After successfully leading the city of Melaka, to World Heritage City status, Syed Idid, a senior urban design expert from Malaysia, is showing Ahmedabad’s heritage lovers the way to do so. Though Ahmedabad satisfies all five criteria, Idid says achieving World Heritage City status will not be easy.
“Considering the steps taken by the local authorities and the people concerned about heritage, it will take a long time to attain that status. But Ahmedabad has the potential,” Idid said on the last day of the 10th international congress of the Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA), at Cept University on Thursday.
“A lot of good things have been done in Ahmedabad, in comparison to Melaka. The city has lots that can be shown as examples of work done towards heritage preservation, which needs to be highlighted in the context of the impact on development,” he said.
Idid said that the municipal corporation and the ministries of education and culture should be the promoters for the World Heritage City campaign for Ahmedabad. “They will need to submit a tentative list, which is like a letter of intention that will be used by the Unesco secretariat to judge the value of the properties and whether they meet the required criteria,” he said. The tentative list, he said, should underline the state’s interest, keenness and willingness towards attaining world heritage status.
“Next, the dossier needs to be submitted as fast as possible, within a year to 10 years. The dossier is kind of glossary, containing the supporting documents for the different monuments. After this, the Unesco secretariat will evaluate the city’s ‘outstanding universal value’,” Idid said.
He said that if India forwards a proposal for heritage status for Ahmedabad, the tentative list would have to submitted by January 31, 2010, and the dossier, by January 2011, in order to gain approval in the minimum possible time. “If the process faces no hurdle, it will take a minimum for two years and two months for Ahmedabad to attain heritage status,” Idid said.
The urban design expert said that a city need satisfy only one criterion for world heritage status. “But Ahmedabad satisfies all five under the operational guidelines of the Unesco. Melaka satisfies only four criteria,” he said.
“Considering the steps taken by the local authorities and the people concerned about heritage, it will take a long time to attain that status. But Ahmedabad has the potential,” Idid said on the last day of the 10th international congress of the Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA), at Cept University on Thursday.
“A lot of good things have been done in Ahmedabad, in comparison to Melaka. The city has lots that can be shown as examples of work done towards heritage preservation, which needs to be highlighted in the context of the impact on development,” he said.
Idid said that the municipal corporation and the ministries of education and culture should be the promoters for the World Heritage City campaign for Ahmedabad. “They will need to submit a tentative list, which is like a letter of intention that will be used by the Unesco secretariat to judge the value of the properties and whether they meet the required criteria,” he said. The tentative list, he said, should underline the state’s interest, keenness and willingness towards attaining world heritage status.
“Next, the dossier needs to be submitted as fast as possible, within a year to 10 years. The dossier is kind of glossary, containing the supporting documents for the different monuments. After this, the Unesco secretariat will evaluate the city’s ‘outstanding universal value’,” Idid said.
He said that if India forwards a proposal for heritage status for Ahmedabad, the tentative list would have to submitted by January 31, 2010, and the dossier, by January 2011, in order to gain approval in the minimum possible time. “If the process faces no hurdle, it will take a minimum for two years and two months for Ahmedabad to attain heritage status,” Idid said.
The urban design expert said that a city need satisfy only one criterion for world heritage status. “But Ahmedabad satisfies all five under the operational guidelines of the Unesco. Melaka satisfies only four criteria,” he said.