KUANTAN: Efforts are underway to secure the Unesco World Heritage Site status for Sungai Lembing, once a prosperous tin mining town near here.
National Heritage Department's World Heritage Division Director, Mohd Syahrin Abdullah said the department was still in the midst of gathering all necessary information to allow the former tin mining town to be included in the World Heritage List.
"The department has held meetings with the Kuantan City Council to obtain the necessary information including justifying the outstanding values in order to meet the selection criteria. We need to study and identify the strength of the proposed site.
"Being the deepest mines in the world (Sungai Lembing) alone is not necessary to be recognised by Unesco as there are several other criteria. Sungai Lembing has the potential due to its historical values but it largely depends on how we present the documents and highlight its significance.
"The heritage site is not solely about the mining site but the surrounding areas nearby including having a proper buffer to safeguard its significance. This includes ongoing conservation and protection efforts at Sungai Lembing and future town planning," he said during the 'Sungai Lembing Past, Present and Future Historical Narrative" programme at the Pahang branch of the National Archives of Malaysia here today.
On the listing duration, Syahrin said the entire process could take up to 30 months and firstly, the chosen site has to be included into the tentative list.
"Once we submit a tentative list, the wait is about a year before we submit a complete dossier which includes the management plan and several other aspects of the respective selected site," he said.
Known as the El Dorado of the East, Sungai Lembing was once a major producer of underground tin, and had the largest and deepest subterranean tunnels in the world.
The tin-mining activities were conducted by British-owned Pahang Consolidated Company Limited in the 1900s before it ceased operations in 1986.
Meanwhile, Syahrin said the status of the Niah National Park to be listed as a Unesco World Heritage List will be known next year.
He said the documentation process to secure Unesco World Heritage Site status for the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) was almost complete.
The other Unesco World Heritage Sites in the country are the Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak; the Kinabalu Park in Sabah, and the historical cities of Melaka and George Town, Penang.
Syahrin was among the three panelist at the programme organised by the Sungai Lembing Museum, which included Pahang Town and Country Planning Department's (PlanMalaysia) Nik Noraisu Nik Ibrahim and freelance researcher Proffesor Dr Azlan Jumat Abdul Ghanie.