• 
• 

Published on October 28, 2007

Suvit Chaimongkol, director of the Ayutthaya historical park, said it was untrue that the UN body would remove Ayutthaya's status due to problems caused by land encroachment and lax legal enforcement.

Unesco is due to review Ayutthaya's status every three years and the next audit falls next year.

"Basically, World Heritage Sites are supposed to be well taken care of. No degradation and destruction or encroachment is allowed inside the designated places," said Suvit.

"In the case of Ayutthaya, which has been on the Unesco list of World Heritage Sites since 1991, the whole island of 5,000 rai is a protected area subject to special restrictions on building height."

However, anthropologist Patarapong Kao-ngern said land encroachment had resulted from a previous government's policy of promoting rapid development in the former capital.

"An old plan [initiated by Field Marshal P Pibulsongkram] was to promote development in the area so that people could live nearby," Patarapong said.

"Over time, enforcement of the zoning law has become ineffective, resulting in a lot of problems. In fact, there are three zones.

"The first zone doesn't allow any buildings with a height of over eight metres, while the second allows buildings up to 12 metres and the third up to 15 metres, depending on proximity to the old temples and ancient structures."

In the worst-case scenario, Suvit said Unesco could designate Ayutthaya as a World Heritage Site at risk, but the historical area would not be removed from the list.

"It's highly unlikely that Ayutthaya would be dropped from the list, but the designation that it's at risk would be helpful, so that all the parties concerned would seriously work together to improve the preservation efforts," Suvit said.

Veera Rojpot-rat, permanent secretary for the Culture Ministry, said reports that Ayutthaya could be removed from the Unesco list due to encroachment should serve as a warning that legal enforcement is still lax.

The Nation