LAHORE, March 11: International and leading local conservators have agreed to document every structural and architectural aspect of the Lahore Fort prior to formulating any action plan.

This was decided during an eight-day meeting of experts during which a project on the conservation and preservation of the Lahore Fort was formally launched on March 5 by Unesco, NORAD of Norway and the government of Pakistan.

The project has two aspects — conservation of the Shish Mahal and the development of a master plan for the conservation of the entire fort.

According to an archaeology department press release, a detailed plan has already been evolved for the execution and implementation of the project. The conservation of the Shish Mahal will be treated as a separate package, to be dovetailed with the overall project at a later stage.

A plan will also be developed to spend the gate money on maintenance on this world heritage site.

Various federal and provincial ministries and departments will also be included to address the problems of environmental degradation caused by smoke-emitting vehicles, noise and vibration of heavy transport vehicles around the Lahore Fort.

The recommendations of the eight-day deliberations will be discussed and finalized on Wednesday (today) at the closing session at Pakistan Institute of Archaeological Training and Research.—APP