In March this year the Kurow Museum’s Richie McCaw Statue Project Committee wrote to the Waitaki District Council seeking $50,000 funding towards the project.
Committee secretary Jocelyn McIlraith said the cost of the project, including installation, was about $150,000.
The council has not agreed to contribute to the project.
The Oamaru Mail reported that at a council assets committee meeting in April several councillors pressed the Kurow Museum Committee to reveal where the statue was likely to be.
With some reluctance museum committee members said three sites were being considered, though only one was revealed, at the junction of State Highways 82 and 83 in the Kurow township, on the left-hand side on the road out to Otematata.
That site has since been confirmed as the preferred option.Councillors also expressed concern the cost was not pinned down, but the $150,000 cost has subsequently been confirmed.
Museum committee chairman Bob Watherston said the council’s knock-back would not prevent the project from proceeding.
"We had gone for support from them. At this point that was not available. That’s OK and we’ve got to accept it."
He said the group responsible for the Sir Colin Meads statue unveiled in Te Kuiti in June faced a similar situation with the Waitomo District Council, which had taken over the ongoing maintenance of the completed statue.
