PESHAWAR, Aug 4: A $1 million project sponsored by the Norwegian government and the Unesco was launched here on Monday to carry out mapping of cultural heritage sites in seven districts of the NWFP.

Federal secretary for ministry of culture Shahid Rafi was the chief guest at the launching ceremony. Initially four districts Chitral, Mardan, Mansehra and Peshawar have been selected for the purpose.

A 40-member team will complete the proposed project by May 2010. The project will be initiated in other districts including Swat, Bannu and Charsadda as well.

Mr Shahid Rafi, speaking on the occasion, said that Pakistan in general and NWFP in particular were rich in cultural heritage and natural beauty. He said the Frontier province was also popular all over the world for being the centre of Gandhara civilisation.

“We are seriously going to carry out a scientific research. The government of Pakistan is revising its cultural policy with regard to conservation, maintenance and preservation of the cultural heritage sites. The information will be used for social cohesion and also for economic uplift of the people”, said Mr Rafi.

He said that the present project would be three dimensional: to revitalise the dying cultural assets, to do capacity building by involving the local community and to highlight various aspects of our archeological sites.

He admitted that the government had some challenges in preserving the national monuments but with the involvement of the local community these issues would be overcome. He said that the government was strengthening the institutions responsible for preserving the sites which carry great significance from archeological point of view and other aspects including historic and religious sacredness.

Earlier, Farhat Gul, Unesco’s national programme officer for culture, presented an overview of the proposed project saying that 40 young male and female committed individuals from the respective seven districts were being trained through workshops for collecting the essential data and information on the cultural sites. She said the mapping project would cover an area of 29,968 sq km.