“In fact we withdrew the application in order to refurbish the old Jeddah downtown area following the recent rains before putting the site up for reconsideration to the UNESCO committee,” said Prince Sultan.
Prince Sultan was responding to local media reports that UNESCO had rejected Saudi Arabia’s application to make the Balad the Kingdom’s third World Heritage Site. The nomination was in fact withdrawn to give Saudi Arabia time to clean up after the floods earlier this year. The World Heritage Committee will meet next month in Bahrain to review the current nominations.
Prince Sultan said: “Based on the approval of the Council of Ministers to register three Saudi sites on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the SCTA presented them to UNESCO. The first two sites Madain Saleh and Al-Diriyah (the fort in Riyadh) were successfully added, while the procedures to register the third site — Jeddah’s Historical Center — commenced.”
In the summer of 2010, SCTA presented a preliminary application to the World Heritage Committee to vote on its registration in the summer of 2011, the prince said.
“Nonetheless, based on the great damages that affected the site from seasonal rain showers, in addition to the delays in the restoration works which were allocated to a investment group, SCTA, in consultation with the governorate of Makkah, decided to postpone the presentation of the site before the World Heritage Committee, until all the works are executed as planned.”
“Needless to say, our keenness is derived from the state’s interest in protecting and developing this important historical site, not forgetting the efforts of Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal to save and restore Jeddah’s Historical Center, in addition to the refurbishment efforts by the municipality and Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed based on the importance of this historical site,” the prince added.
“There is a huge difference between UNESCO’s claimed refusal or rejection to consider the application of the site, and the fact that SCTA has actually withdrawn the application. The SCTA’s decision to withdraw was made to restore the site, before presenting it once more for nomination,” Prince Sultan said.
