Locals barricade road to GWK monument
Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Badung | Tue, 03/31/2009 9:32 AM
Hundreds of residents of Ungasan village barricaded Monday the main road leading into the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK), a massive cultural park and tourist attraction, in an attempt to force the park's management to fulfill its promise of rehabilitating the village's road.
The villagers, members of the Giri Dharma Banjar (traditional neighborhood organization), dressed in Balinese traditional attire, gathered in front of the cultural park's main gate early in the morning. They then entered the park and formed a road block some 200 meters from the gate.
The crowd, comprised mostly of men, chopped a tall tree down and used its trunk to block the road. They then placed several huge stones in the middle of the road before unfurling a banner that read "The residents of Giri Dharma demand GWK fulfill its promise. For 14 years the residents have been waiting for *nothing, but* GWK's lies."
Wayan Windra, the representative of the villagers, said the locals took the extreme measure because the park's management, PT Garuda Adi Matra, did not respond to their demands.
"The company should repair the village road. The road leads to the village cemetery and it is very important for our people," he said.
Windra said part of the road to the cemetery now lies inside the park and that the park's management had promised to build a new ring road to the cemetery so as the villagers would not have to cross the park to reach the cemetery. The park's management has not fulfilled its promise.
"Now the villagers still have to use the old road and parts of that road are badly damaged. We have repeatedly asked the park's management to fulfill its promise to no avail," Windra said.
GWK's Project Development Manager, Agung Gede Rai Dalem said the ring road's develop-ment was stalled by the locals' reluctance to sell their lands for the planned road.
The brainchild of noted Balinese sculptor Nyoman Nuarta, GWK is expected to be the island's largest cultural park. It plans to host the world tallest statue, of Lord Wisnu riding on the back of the mythical Garuda. However, lack of financial support and prolonged legal disputes over ownership of the property have delayed this plan.
