The headquarters for Lut Desert World Heritage Site will be established in Shafiabad Village, Kerman Province, once the desert is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, director general for world heritage affairs, Farhad Azizi, told Mehr News Agency. During his visit to Lut Desert and Shahdad District in Kerman Province, Azizi held talks with local officials about the possibility of turning the Caravanserai of Shafiabad into the headquarters of the heritage site. The village is already on every ecotourist’s radar, being one of the main ports of entry into the vast desert, which is known as the hottest place on Earth. A budget of 1 billion rials ($300,000) was allocated to the cultural heritage office of Kerman’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department to restore the caravanserai. UNESCO experts are expected to visit Iran in the next three months to assess Lut Desert’s potential for registeration on the World Heritage List.
