Press Release by the National Heritage Conservation Commission

PRESS RELEASE ON THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF A RESORT IN THE MOSI-OA-TUNYA NATIONAL PARK/VICTORIA FALLS WORLD HERITAGE SITE BY LEGACY HOLDINGS ZAMBIA LIMITED (The Post, 28 August 06)

Legacy Holdings Zambia Limited is part of the Legacy International Consortium of Hotels, Bush Lodges and Resorts. Legacy Holdings Zambia Limited holds a Tourism Concession Agreement (TCA) with the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to develop the Mosi-oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate. The project is on lot 14734/M along the Zambezi River in the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park/World Heritage Site upstream of the Victoria Falls.

JUSTIFICATION
The Zambian Government has made tourism development and diversification as its second priority on the list of resuscitating Zambia's economy. To this end, Government has embarked on a public facility but private driven initiative as way of accelerating and enhancing tourism development. Cardinal to this initiative is the Public Private Partnership initiative (PPPI) policy. This is the Government's policy of realizing its objective of facilitating development of the industry while the private sector takes a leading role.

MOSI-OA-TUNYA NATIONAL PARK/WORLD HERITAGE DEVELOPMENT
It is in this context that a portion of the Mosi-oa- Tunya National Park, which is also a northerm part of the World Heritage site, was tendered for development. The area in question has been earmarked for tourism development as reflected in the Mosi-oa- Tunya Management Plan. This portion among others such as African Queen, Waterfront, Bwaato, Taonga, Batoka Sky and Gwembe Safaris Jetty were presented at the Bi-National Workshop held between the two state parties namely Zambia and Zimbabwe to the World Heritage Protocol.

MOSI-OA-TUNYA/VICTORIA FALLS WORLD HERITAGE MANAGEMENT
The Zambian side of World Heritage Site is co-managed by the Zambia Wildlife Authority and National Heritage Conservation Commission. The two institutions are statutory bodies under the parent Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources.

The World Heritage Site is the Southern part of the Mosi-oa- Tunya National Park and is also a Natural Monument under UNESCO classification, thus the co-management by the two institutions along their respective pieces of legislation as provided for accordingly. The two institutions have further signed a Memorandum of Understanding on how the World Heritage site is to be managed and benefits arising there from co-shared.

Of late, an impression has been created that ZAWA and the National Heritage Conservation Commission are not working together with regard to the management of this national asset. We would like to inform the public that the two institutions are in common agreement with each other for any development that would affect this ecological sensitive area positively or negatively.

As custodians of this Asset on behalf of the State and International Community, Zambia Wildlife Authority and National Heritage Conservation Commission have always ensured and will always endeavour that any proposed development does not impact negatively on this precarious resource. To this end, every effort is made that both the National Laws and International statutes, which are in place to protect this site are enforced and respected

UNESCO'S LATEST STAND ON THE MOSI-OA-TUNYA WORLD HERITAGE SITE

At the recent meeting of the World Heritage Committee held from 7th to 10th July 2006 in Vilnius, Lithuania, the following issues were raised/addressed:
i) The committee noted with great concern the failure to implement the recommendations of the 2002 bilateral workshop recommendations;
ii) The committee felt that the integrity of the property remained threatened by uncontrolled urban development, pollution and unplanned tourism development;
iii) Both State Parties were urged to urgently follow-up on the recommendations of the 2002 bi-lateral workshop and in particular, the preparation and implementation of an effective joint management framework to address the on-going threats and to set a firm schedule for their follow-up;
iv) The committee also requested the State Parties to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission to assess the state of conservation and progress made on the recommendations of the 2002 bi-lateral workshop.

WAY FORWARD
The two institutions have been implementing the recommendations of the bi-lateral workshop, which relates to the daily management of the site. They have also been engaging Interested and Affected Parties with regard to implementing any development project in the site.

Other aspects of the bi-lateral recommendations that need to be ratified and implemented at higher Government organs have been referred accordingly.

Further, the two institutions have requested UNESCO for technical assistance to produce a Management Plan, specifically for the World Heritage Site as recommended by the bi-lateral workshop. The Plan will be produced jointly with the counterpart institutions in Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, the National Heritage Conservation Commission would like to assure the general public that any proposed development in the World Heritage Site are done within the context of overall Management Plan as agreed by ZAWA and the National Heritage Conservation Commission. Further still, any such developments are within the National and International Environmental Guidelines for such an ecological/cultural sensitive site.

It is in this context that the proposed development by Legacy Holdings Zambia Limited should be understood that all is within the spirit of Environmental Requirements

Mr Donald Chikumbi
Executive Director
National Heritage Conservation Commission