Myanmar to beef up heritage law

BAGAN Myanmar’s government will amend the 1998 Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Regions Law to empower authorities and keep up with the current tourism situation.

Global New Light of Myanmar reported the 1998 cultural heritage law would be amended before Bagan files for World Heritage list status.

Religious Affairs and Culture Minister, Thura U Aung Ko, was quoted saying the government will amend the law as it out of date considering the present tourism situation.

“The Bagan Cultural Heritage submission designated in the list of global heritage, Nomination Dossier will have to be tendered at the end of September this year, with Nomination Dossier and Management Plan to be submitted in January 2018.”

Following that landmark, the International Council on Monuments & Sites (ICOMOS) will come to Bagan Cultural Zone, for an inspection.

Some 400 pagodas and temples, out of a total of 3,252 across the Bagan plain, were damaged when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, 24 August last year.

According to the restoration plan, major restoration work on 89 quake-damaged pagodas and Buddhist temples in Bagan started in January.

In the first phase, the work focuses on 36 pagodas including Bagan’s well-known Sulamani and Ananda temples.

Restoration of 53 other important monuments will take place in the second stage.

The entire project will take five years and will require fund raising from the private sector.

Bagan is an ancient city located in Mandalay Region, built between the 9th and 11th centuries, during an era when some 55 Buddhist kings ruled the Bagan Dynasty.

Myanmar’s World Heritage Site Committee plans to nominate the Bagan Archaeological Zone for UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2017, for consideration at the agency’s annual convention in 2019.

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