05-01-2010, 10:27 AM
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has informed its headquarters in Paris about construction of an Expressway over the remains of Moenjodaro and sought advice.
“This is a serious matter but the government of Pakistan has not approached Unesco for assistance to safeguard this World Heritage Site,” said a Unesco representative in Islamabad.
He said that Unesco only provided technical assistance and could do nothing else unless the government sought its help. “Unesco is nonetheless disturbed over news in the media regarding the road construction through the protected site.”
The world body’s bonding with the 5,000-year-old site began when it launched a campaign for protecting Moenjodaro in 1973. The programme was halted in 1997 and reactivated in 2002. Conservation efforts at the site were a continuation of the campaign. It is not clear why the ministry of culture has not approached Unesco for help.
“The National Highway Authority (NHA) should have consulted the ministry of culture before they wanted to construct the road. Law protects Moenjodaro as a heritage site. It is surprising how the NHA started the road project and did not even ask for clearance from the ministry,” Culture Secretary Moinul Islam Bukhari said.
The NHA said the Rs2.5 billion Expressway project connecting Larkana city with the Moenjodaro airport were 100 to 150 feet away from the protected site.
NHA Sukkur general-manager Abdul Aziz said: “We are outside the protective bund (embankment) and there is no threat to the ancient site. The work is in full swing and will begin again once there is clearance from the department of archaeology.”
He said that because of a break in work the NHA was losing Rs2 million to Rs2.5 million a day. There were heavy machinery and construction equipment there and every minute cost money.
In a letter to the archaeology department, the NHA said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had informed it about its plan to expand the runway of Moenjodaro airport.
NHA project-director Basharat Hussain said the CAA provided the NHA with coordinates of boundaries up to which expansion would take place.
“On the basis of demarcation line provided by the CAA and existing boundary line as well as the protected site of Moenjodaro, the NHA planned to provide the road between the two locations,” he said.
The NHA made it clear that the Expressway was accorded top priority by President Asif Ali Zardari and it could only be built between boundaries lines of the airport and the protected site and could not be realigned. This was not acceptable to the ministry of culture.
“The CAA is out of place giving green signal to the NHA to build the road on protected property controlled by the department of archaeology,” said an official of the ministry.