In a letter to Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Center sought explanation about the planned construction of the Harsin Industrial Satellite City near Bisotun, which the organization thought might pose a threat to the historical site.

The letter noted that the site of Bisotun was inscribed into UNESCO's World Heritage List in July during a meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Lithuania.

According to UNESCO convention, any construction in Bisotun that could pose a threat to the site should not take place without the coordination of UNESCO World Heritage Center, the letter added.

The government has approved the construction of the industrial satellite city in an area of 90 hectares near the village of Barzan Abad in Kermanshah province, the Iran Daily reported.

Earlier this month, the local Cultural Heritage News Agency (CHN) reported that Iranian experts had warned that the project to build an industrial town close to the country's Bisotun would threaten the cultural landscape of the newly inscribed World Heritage List site.

Heritage experts determined the cultural landscape of Bisotun to be 250 square km and the new town, near the village of Barzan Abad, would be inside the area, the CHN said.

But Kermanshah's Industrial Cities Corporation, which is responsible for the construction of the new town, insisted that the new project would be built outside the cultural boundaries of Bisotun.

Located along the ancient trade route linking the Iranian high plateau with Mesopotamia, the Bisotun site features remains from the prehistoric times to the Median, Achaemenid, Sassanian and Ilkhanid periods.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2006)