New measures will be put into place from 1st October 2017, to protect the Galle Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Galle Heritage Foundation chairman Channa Daswatte said regulations passed in 2009 for the protection of the site would be operational from today. The foundation comes under the purview of the Law and Order and Southern Development Ministry.
Accordingly, heavy vehicles weighing more than five tons and three metres in height will not be allowed into the Fort.
Vehicles transporting goods into the Fort will be allowed to enter the site from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The speed limit will be 25 Km per hour and vehicles will be allowed to park only in demarcated areas.
A special gazette notification was issued in 2009 which included guidelines for construction within the Galle Fort and regulations pertaining to vehicles .
The Foundation said the regulations were necessary to protect the heritage site as the arches of the Dutch fort and some of the old houses had suffered extensive cracks due to unrestricted heavy vehicle movement going to and fro.
The Foundation also pointed out that vehicle emission and noise pollution were becoming a hazard within the fort.
In 1587 the Portugese initially built a small fort in Galle called the ‘Black Fort’ which was replaced by the present Galle Fort built by the Dutch in 1663. This site, stretching over 38 hectares was declared the 38th World Heritage by UNESCO in 1988.
Pix and text by Gamini Mahadura, Galle Corr
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