Administration cannot finish Hermes replica work on time

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration cannot meet its own deadline to finish the replica of the Greek god Hermes statue, which was once reported missing, due to a delayed budget disbursement, an official said on Monday.

Head of the program division of the city museum and restoration agency Indro Kusumo said the replica would be finished sometime between June and July. Previously the deadline had been set for March 30.

Indro admitted the budget payments had not in accordance with the previous schedule of March 30.

" The budget for the replica is included in the additional package of the city budget. This payment usually comes later than the normal budget.

"We can only send his payment (the sculptor's) in the middle of April after the budget has been disbursed. That's why the sculptor cannot continue his work," he said.

Indro said that unlike businesspeople, artists could not be expected to finance a project worth Rp 135 million before the budget was forthcoming.

He also said that the sculpture, Arsono, had promised that the Hermes replica would be finished between June and July.

The two-meter bronze Hermes statue, which graced the Harmoni bridge nearby the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta for more than 90 years, hit the headlines after it was reported missing on Aug. 22, 1999.

Three days after the reports, the city public works agency announced it had the statue. The statue had started to fall into the Ciliwung River, which passes under the Harmoni bridge, and the agency had removed it. One of its heels had broken off.

The administration plan to install the replica, which will be more detailed -- with two wings as well as featuring two snakes on a staff -- than the real one, on the bridge. The original will be displayed at the Jakarta Historical Museum in West Jakarta.

The replica is being created by sculpture Arsono, a well-known expert on busts. (ind)