Environmental Upgrades Funded for Peru's Machu Picchu

WASHINGTON, DC, September 17, 2004 (ENS) - The government of Peru has won approval for a $5 million World Bank loan to protect the World Heritage Site of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The funds will go towards sustainable tourism development, pollution control and enhanced environmental management.

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors said Tuesday that it approved the loan to support the Peru’s efforts to protect the most important cultural sites in the Vilcanota Valley high in the Andes mountains. The government of Peru will contribute $3.2 million to the total project cost of $8.2 million.

The ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu high in the Peruvian Andes (Photo credit unknown)

The Vilcanota Valley Rehabilitation and Management Project will foster sustainable development initiatives in the valley, which is inhabited by some 100,000 people, through support to cultural preservation, tourism development, urban infrastructure, environmental protection, and local economic development, the Bank said.

The project goal is to assist Peru to improve management of tourism in the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu and preserve Machu Picchu’s status as a World Heritage Site.

“A key component of the project will be to resettle 60 Machu Picchu Pueblo families whose homes are highly vulnerable to landslides, which constitute a hazard to the families and frequently close down the rail line, the only access to the pueblo and the Machu Picchu ruins,” said Roberto Chávez, World Bank task manager for the project.

“The affected families have agreed to the compensation plan and the relocation area," Chávez said.

A small portion of Machu Picchu (Photo courtesy Galen Frysinger)

Part of the project will be to facilitate access to improved urban services and infrastructure throughout the valley, through development of a regional solid waste management system, and detailed engineering, environmental impact assessments and investments in urban infrastructure.

The project will attempt to mitigate ongoing environmental degradation caused by unmanaged tourism and rapid urbanization.

Support of local economic development will be accomplished by enhancing the capacity of local tourism service providers, constructing community telecenters, and incubating local economic initiatives through a demand-driven development marketplace facility.

Finally, the strategic planning and management capacity of municipalities in the valley will be enhanced, project planners say.

The Vilcanota Valley Rehabilitation and Management Project will be implemented in partnership with UNESCO, the National Geographic Society, the World Monuments Fund, NGOs and bilateral donors.

It will also complement an ongoing Bank supported water and sanitation project (PRONASAR) and help to mobilize private and public sector investments in the Valley.

Market day in a village near Machu Picchu (Photo courtesy Galen Frysinger)

Physical investments in sanitation on the Inca Trail are planned. Urgent tasks to reverse environmental degradation in the valley include installation of water meters and the completion and operation of a sewerage treatment plant in Machu Picchu Pueblo; upgrading the sanitation of seven main towns in the Sacred Valley that currently dump raw sewage into the Vilcanota River; and establishment of a regional solid waste management system.

The local community has shaped the project to suit its own needs and vision. An extensive community consultation process in the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley was conducted by a local nongovernmental organization between May 2003 and March 2004 to develop a Participatory Vision for the Vilcanota Valley. Also, a Social and Institutional risk analysis was prepared by a prestigious local research institution.

Finally, extensive World Bank consultation with local mayors, council members, community organizations and regional representativeson key development priorities took place over five missions between March 2003 and March 2004, the Bank says in its Project Appraisal Document.

A central theme from the consultation process was the recommendation that the project should focus broadly on promoting integrated regional development of which sustainable tourism development would be one component.

In particular, participants agreed on critical development priorities including improved access to basic urban services; pollution control and enhanced environmental management; the further integration of local residents into the tourism economy; and support for rural communities through agricultural and infrastructure development.

Machu Picchu was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Incan ruler as a royal estate and religious retreat.