VIENTIANE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Laos expects to make a submission to UNESCO for world heritage listing of the Plain of Jars in northern Xieng Khuang province as well as Phou Hin Nam Nor (stone pillar mountain) in central Khammuan province next year, locao media reported on Monday.
Officials from Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, and Khammuan provincial authorities met last week in the province to discuss works prepared to submit the proposal to UNESCO for listing Phou Hin Nam Nor as Laos's first world heritage site bas ed solely on its natural charms, local Vientiane Times online newspaper reported Monday.
"We will soon finalize a report to the government for consideration and once the government approves it we can proceed to the next step, the submission of the proposal to UNESCO," Deputy Director General of the Heritage Department under the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Viengkeo Souksavatdy said to reporters last Friday.
Viengkeo, who attended the meeting and has been involved in the preparations since the early stages, added that all-round preparations have been set down.
Laos plans to submit a proposal to UNESCO to consider listing the Plain of Jars first, to be followed by potential listing for Phou Hin Nam Nor.
"We expect to submit the proposal to UNESCO to consider listing the Plain of Jars by early next year and then make a proposal for listing Phou Hin Nam Nor soon after," he told Vientiane Times.
Officials said creating a more detailed map to outline the boundaries of the Plain of Jars and removing unexploded ordnance (UXO) from remaining sites will be the focus of preparations for proposing the tourist attraction be listed as a world heritage site.
The Plain of Jars, some 200 km north of capital Vientiane by aerial distance, is a megalithic archaeological landscape that is thought to date back 2,500 to 3,000 years.
It contains more than 2,000 stone jars, the biggest of which is more than three meters high with a circumference of eight meters.
Scattered throughout the Xieng Khuang plateau, the stone jars appear in clusters, ranging from a single or a few to several hundred jars in the lower foothills surrounding the central plain and upland valleys.
With the Jars having been scattered over many sites, officials in charge have decided to select 12 sites on the Plain of Jars for inscription on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites.
The 82,000-hectare Phou Hin Nam Nor, some 300 km southeast of capital Vientiane by aerial distance, comprises a multitude of rocky outcrops that en masse resemble a stone forest.
Its attraction is enhanced by the wildlife and plant species that inhabit the area. A naturally created seven kilometre tunnel under the stone pillar mountain area through which the Xebangfai River flows creates additional natural charm. Phou Hin Nam Nor is believed to have formed due to a volcanic eruption several centuries ago. The site was added to the country's list of National Protected Areas in 1993.
If listed, Phou Hin Nam Nor would be Laos' first natural World Heritage Site. Two sites in Laos -- the historic town of Luang Prabang and Vat Phou Champassak were listed as cultural World Heritage sites in 1995 and 2001 respectively.
