“Construction of road line around Boka Kotorska which would cut the vertical zone of the mountain range, along with construction of buildings would compromise the area which is in the list of World Cultural Heritage. One of the alternatives for resolving traffic jams is intensifying maritime transport. But, first it is necessary to identify the cultural and natural zones and limit the urbanization level in Boka Bay“ – maintains the expert on world heritage prof. Todor Krstev from international organization ICOMOS (UNESCO advisory body). He pointed out in the press conference for the organized workshop within the process of drafting the Management Plan for Kotor area of world heritage, held in the premises of the Regional Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments that Boka Kotorska is a cultural and natural phenomenon and its heritage must be preserved.
”It is necessary to have participation of all relevant stakeholders. The state committed to preserve the cultural heritage of Kotor in 1979 and it bears all the responsibility. It is therefore necessary to establish a more intense cooperation in this field – of the state or competent ministries, institutions, the Municipalities of Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi. It is necessary to implement measures of legal protection and adopting urbanism plan which would make a balance between the cultural heritage of Boka Bay and many various interests on the other part. In that way, the cultural heritage will be protected and development of the region would be ensured, which is the main goal of the Management Plan“ – says Krstev.
When asked by a journalist how to make a balance between both mentioned parties, and resolve the problem of traffic jams in the town he replied: “It is necessary to make a plan or a map to identify the actual values of Boka Bay, to define the rules with the aim of preserving this area, to limit the level of urbanization and to make a plan for development of the territory of Boka Bay which would be a link between the development plan and preservation plan, and a very important thing is certainly political will. Construction of the detour also includes construction of buildings along the road area such as restaurants, hotels, discotheques, shops, and that would destroy the landscape and interrupt the so called visual line of this area“ – says prof. Krstev and states that it is very important that the provisions of the Law which was adopted last year recognize the Management Plan as a very important instrument for preservation of cultural heritage. “In the Regional Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments Kotor the process of creation of Draft Management Plan for Kotor World Heritage Site according to remarks, or decisions of Unesco is in progress. The task force for creation of this document for long-term management, protection and preservation of the Kotor World Heritage Site was formed by the Institute and it is comprised of the representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Tourism, the Republic and Regional Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments, the Municipality of Kotor, the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty for Tourism and Hospitality, the Institute for Maritime Biology and NGO “Expeditio“. Apart from the members of the task force, the two-day workshop organized within the process was attended by the representatives of the Municipalities of Kotor and Herceg Novi, as well as the consultants for World Heritage. Apart from professor Krstev, there was the architect from Sweden prof Katrin Lisitzin. They discussed the topics which were the most important for completion of the Management Plan. Among other, those were the proposals for protected surroundings of Kotor World Heritage Site and strategic priorities of the Management Plan for the following year“ – said Aleksandra Kapetanović on behalf of NGO “Expeditio“, one of the organizers of the gathering. The press conference was also attended by Zorica Čubrović from the Regional Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments from Kotor. Quoted from website www.radiokotor.com
