Four heritage sites in Unesco's tentative list

KUALA LUMPUR: Four heritage sites – National Park, Royal Belum in Gerik, Perak, Permatang Kuarza in Gombak, Selangor and the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) – are in the tentative list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said it was aimed at declaring these sites, which had historical and heritage values as Unesco World Heritage Sites in efforts to protect their biodiversity and uniqueness.
"We have 69 national heritage sites where we work with the state governments to identify areas or sites with historical and heritage values to be gazetted as special area plans so as not to be exposed to any development," he said during the oral question and answer session at the Dewan Negara sitting.
He was replying to a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Fahariyah Md Nordin who queried about efforts taken by the government to protect heritage sites and buildings in the country.
Muhammad Bakhtiar said his ministry through the National Heritage Department also worked jointly with agencies and universities conducting researches to identify sites that could be made into national heritage sites before being put forward to Unesco and declare as Unesco World Heritage Sites.
Replying to the original question from Senator Datuk Ong Chong Swen, who wanted to know the amount of payment for a site to be declared as a Unesco World Heritage Site, he said at least RM1.5 million was needed to cover costs of appointing experts, dossier preparation, conversation management plan and special area plan preparation as well as research and data collection study. — Bernama