LAHORE - Walled Citys infrastructure is facing decay and demolition, as new constructions are constantly diminishing its historic fabric. A report revealed that in order to preserve its historical and cultural associations, the Government of Pakistan and the World Bank prepared a cultural heritage conservation plan in 1983 through Lahore Urban Development Project, which focused on the repair and restoration of the Delhi Gate (a principal entrance to the Walled City), the Delhi Gate Bazaar and the Shaahi Hammam (Royal Baths), located inside the Delhi Gate. To address the infrastructure and economic problems of the Walled City, the project financed the upgrading of the water supply, sewerage, drainage, roadways, solid waste collection, electricity and traffic management. LDAs Conservation Plan for the Walled City is also a series of recommendations concerning the physical decay of historic structures in the City, the visual clutter of newer structures and infrastructure and the encroachment of various unregulated elements on the Citys fabric. The conservation programme, headed by Pakistan Environmental Planning and Architectural Consultants (Ltd), (PEPAC) is in fact an expansion project begun in 1979 ie. the Lahore Urban Development and Traffic Study (LUDTS). This study undertaken by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and funded by the World Bank, identified four areas for improvement including urban planning activities, leading to the production of a structure plan to provide a framework for action programme within the City, upgrading and urban expansion projects, to provide substantial improvements in living conditions for lower income groups, improvement in traffic network in congested areas of the central Lahore and improvements in living conditions within the walled city by improving environmental sanitation and providing social support programme, part of LUDTS findings identified the precarious position of the physical fabric of the City. The report suggested that any development programme that the City initiated should include measures to protect national and regional cultural heritage, and for this it recommended the development of a conservation plan. The World Bank made the creation of a plan a condition of the first loans to be issued to the City. The study identifies some 1,400 buildings within the city as having high architectural or historical value and presents a series of conservation proposals. These recommendations include both conservation steps for the buildings as well as social and economic programmes to halt the causes of their degradation. Besides this general policy approach to the conservation effort, several pilot projects have been outlined and a handful have been implemented and funded by the World Bank through the Punjab Urban Development Project. The buildings are, in most cases, structures dating from early British colonial times, both residential and commercial and more monumental structures from the Mughal Empire, although action has only been taken on government owned buildings. One pilot project that came directly out of this effort is the restoration of the Wazir Khan Hammam (bath house), built in 1638. The bath, which suffered mostly surface damage to the fresco work, is now being re-used as a tourist centre with some facilities for computer education for women. While the structure itself was not in any particular risk of irreversible decay, this hamam is an important site to the Development Authority because it is located on a popular entrance point for tourists coming to the City. For visitors it is the first logical stopping point on a walk that goes from the impressive Delhi Gate past the Wazir Khan Mosque and the Choona Mandi Haveli Complex to end at the Lahore Fort. This route is also well travelled by locals going to the wholesale cloth and dry goods markets. It seems that the choice of aiming the rather limited resources of the programme at this project is an attempt to heighten the community interest in the conservation effort, rather than directly addressing sites with more desperate conservation needs. Additionally, there are several proposals to deal with the conservation of areas surrounding historic monuments. Of particular concern is the area around the Mori Gate, which stands next to the well-preserved UNESCO site of the Lahore Fort and lies between the Fort and the Delhi Gate, immediately adjacent to the newly conserved and re-used Choona Mandi Haveli Complex. While the Fort itself is a vigorously monitored and controlled site, the area immediately surrounding it is visually cluttered, to say the least. One exits the Fort to be confronted by a mass of electrical cables, transformers, and half a dozen steel recycling operations. The example of the gates highlights several difficulties faced by PEPAC in the implementation of their conservation project.