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Machu Picchu,
Peru |
Opposition from UNESCO and inte-national
pressure have put an end to a controversial cable car
project at Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu, the mysterious
Inca city that was 'lost' in the Peruvian Andes for
four centuries, is Peru's most treasured and popular
archeological site. It's considered the best remaining
testimony to the vast Inca empire that once stretched
3,000 miles from Colombia to Argentina, and was added
to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1983.
But the 32,592 hectare sanctuary faces
the constant threat of being turned into an overbuilt
tourist resort. The meticulously planned collection
of granite temples, palaces and agricultural terraces
was visited by 320,000 people last year, 20,000 more
than the year before. In this poor country, crippled
by unemployment and corruption, many businesses and
individuals are eager to cash in on the tourist boom.
But the 32,592 hectare sanctuary faces
the constant threat of being turned into an overbuilt
tourist resort. The meticulously planned collection
of granite temples, palaces and agricultural terraces
was visited by 320,000 people last year, 20,000 more
than the year before. In this poor country, crippled
by unemployment and corruption, many businesses and
individuals are eager to cash in on the tourist boom.
Even the authorities in charge of the
site have been criticised for milking the country's
heritage without preserving or protecting it enough.
There was uproar last year when a team filming a beer
commercial dropped a 450 kg crane on the Intihuatana
sundial, the city's most sacred stone.
On May 20, the Peruvian authorities finally
caved into international pressure and abandoned an 18
month-old plan to build a cable car from the tourist
town of Aguas Calientes up to the citadel, which sits
at 2,500 metres in a dip between Machu Picchu and Huayna
Picchu mountain peaks. The project involved dynamiting
several areas, rigging up a terminal on Huana Picchu
peak, and would have carried four times as many tourists
up to Machu Picchu each day.
A UNESCO mission in October 1999 warned
the project would "seriously affect the values,
authenticity and integrity of the citadel and the surrounding
landscape." Leading Peruvian figures, as well as
international environmentalists and archaeologists,
bombarded the government with messages of disapproval.
"This is a very important decision
for us and it should stand as a precedent so that this
kind of project does not affect Machu Picchu or any
of Peru's world heritage sites," said Javier Lambarri,
head of the National Institute of Culture (INC) in Cusco.
Not everyone agrees. The residents of
Aguas Calientes, as well as the company which was to
build the cable car, saw it as a good money spinner
and a viable alternative to the buses which they say
pollute and damage the surroundings shuttling visitors
up and down a zigzag dust track.
The flow of tourists into Peru is heading
for two million in the year 2005, according to Lambarri.
Most of them will make the pilgrimage to Machu Picchu.
"We are looking at other ways to
bring all these people here in an organised way,"
said Lambarri. He suggested the simplest solution might
be just to make everyone walk. But options such as a
chairlift or a funicular have also been raised.
UNESCO has advised against any further
development and has even recommended that the existing
concrete eyesore, on the edge of the site, that includes
a luxury hotel, cafe, bathrooms and telephones, be reduced.
Sophie Arie
Aguas Calientes