Construction of the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) statue in Ungasan, Bali has long been stagnant with an unclear fate.
The lack of progress since the plan to start development in 1997 has led many, including, Merdeka to speculate on corruption surrounding the project.
The chairman of the nonprofit organization Bali Corruption Watch (BCW), Putu Wirata Dwikora, has asked the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate the construction at the 240 hectare park on Bali’s Bukit Peninsula.
“The KPK should go into the field and investigate the construction of GWK, because there are many allegations of irregularities in the mega project,” Virata said in Denpasar on Monday.
A lot of money has gone into GWK, leading Virata to ask where has it gone and how come the statue has not yet been completed.
Ultimately, the statue is supposed to depict Wisnu riding his winged, mythical garuda.
Even the statue’s conception was not without controversy. The megaproject was protested by Hindu religious leaders who argued that the gigantic statue would disrupt the spiritual balance in Bali and it was just not right to use a sacred symbol as a commercial tourist attraction. However, the project was conceived anyway by those who argued it could bring in more tourists and thus more revenue to Bali.
GWK was first built in 1997, with stock shared between the Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC) with 18 percent and 82 percent from private investors. However, the statue’s construction was halted by the financial crisis in 1997, according to Merdeka.
However, in 2013 Nyoman Nuarta, the sculptor and main investor of most of the land in GWK cultural park reportedly made an agreement with property developer PT Alam Sutera Realty. This development group reportedly plans to build luxury villas and apartments (seriously, what else?) in the cultural park.
Photo: Coconuts Bali
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