Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka assured today that the Galle Fort is no longer under the threat of being removed from the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.
The Minister said this at a press briefing held during a site visit to Galle, today adding that Sri Lanka was able to ensure its place in the World Heritage Sites list after strictly following UNESCO terms and conditions.
Minister Ratnayaka said that the government took strict measures to retain Galle Fort in the Heritage Site list by taking to heart to ensure the terms and conditions implied by the UNESCO, no sooner ascending into power.
‘Fourteen constructions have been warned to be demolished from the Galle Fort already’, he said.
‘If we had continued to deprive these old constrictions for another day or two, we wouldn’t have been able to recover a huge number of them’, the Minister said.
The Minister said that the ongoing development projects carried out in Galle Fort are conducted without jeopardizing resident’s activities.
‘It is a great accomplishment that we were able to secure Galle Fort in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list and if we had failed to retain its place in the list, it would have been a shame to our country’, the Minister said.