By Salah Zaki Lately, due to rising public awareness of the need to protect urban heritage, the Ministry of Culture cooperated with the Ministry of Housing in issuing Law #144 / 2006, which regulates demolition licenses and the conservation of buildings and structures of heritage value. Egypt's prime minister promptly ordered governors to create a list of buildings of heritage value in every region in Egypt. The initial function of the Committee for Buildings and Areas of Heritage Value, or Central Heritage Committee, was to help set the norms and standards that define buildings to be conserved in Egypt. The term "sites of heritage value" includes gardens, but does not include archaeological structures that are considered monuments and hence the responsibility of the Supreme Council for Antiquities. The committee started by writing a manual to be used by governorates and local committees in the selection procedure. The National Centre for Urban Amelioration has signed protocols of cooperation with many governorates in this regard. The future task of the Central Heritage Committee will be to offer technical assistance to governorates, both in the area of listing heritage value buildings as well as in pilot projects for conservation. Members of the Central Heritage Committee are currently heading the local specialised committees in Cairo, Alexandria, Menia, Kafr El-Sheik, Behiera, Aswan, Port Said and Mansoura, for the listing of buildings, structures and gardens of heritage value. It is expected this task will be completed within six months, to be approved later by the prime minister and to form the basis of the national list of heritage sites. In Cairo, the number of listed buildings is around 5,690; in Menia around 340 buildings; while in Alexandria the figure is around 2,000. Local committees, headed by professors of architecture, are using uniform standards for evaluating buildings based on their history and architectural and urban value, and social and traditional backgrounds. The committees are also asked to put the buildings in categories, A to C, according to their value and priority for restoration. Establishing local archives for governorates and a central archive of buildings and structures of heritage value is an important task the committees are also instructed to assist in. Currently, the main problem facing governorates and the central state is what to do after approving the list of heritage buildings and structures, since their owners for real estate investment intentionally destroy many of these buildings. One of the Central Heritage Committee's functions is to propose fair compensation as well as other incentives to convince landlords to keep and conserve their buildings of value. Future work of the committee includes raising public awareness on the value of Egypt's heritage and conserving what remains of it. * The writer is Professor of Architecture, Al-Azhar University.
