ABSTRACT
Since 1992, the Japanese government has provided an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for the ‘Ajanta-Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project’. According to the official website of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the project is explained as follows:
The (Second Phase) Ajanta-Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project will receive loan assistance of 7,331 million yen. This comprehensive project, besides involving conservation and protection of the world famous rock-cut shrines of Ajanta and Ellora, also includes improvement of airport facilities, and establishment and improvement of tourism-related infrastructure facilities. Through exploiting the potentials of these World Heritage monuments, the project aims not only to achieve greatly enhanced tourism in the region and also thereby to help promote regional development. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan 2003) This is one of a number of major conservation and development projects that Japan supports across Asia. The first phase of the project was recently evaluated. According to the evaluation report, more intensive efforts to maintain the authenticity of the overall site and to include more active participation of local communities within the restoration and management has been left for the second phase of the project. Initial efforts have focused upon restoring the famous murals in the caves, and the exhibition and presentation of the murals have received high marks in the evaluation (Hidaka et al. 2007). The cave sites at Ajanta are world famous for being among the greatest and earliest examples of Buddhist art and are popularly visited by tourists from all over the world.