Wet, a bit dark, stuffy and smelly are liable to be the first impressions that customers have when entering the Meruya Ilir Market, which opens early every morning at 5 a.m.

Shops located to the front and middle parts of the market offer household appliances, clothes, accessories, gold jewelry and staple food items and in the rear, there is an open area for vendors selling fresh products, like vegetables and meat.

The city administration plans to rebuild West Jakarta's 'wet' market with a more modern design to cater to the needs of customers, who prefer 'healthy' markets to wet ones.

But its plan to transform the market in July may affect the traders, who expect to enjoy huge profits ahead of Lebaran, which will fall in August this year.

Edison, a vendor of belts and wallets from Sawahlunto in West Sumatra, said the renovation plan might cost him his income as he would have to move to a temporary location where there would be fewer customers.

'June and July will be busy months for us to collect as much money as possible to celebrate Lebaran. But I'm afraid that the temporary place will be smaller than this one,' he told The Jakarta Post recently.

Edison said he established his business in the market in 1988, when its condition was poorer, with only wooden boards to protect the shops.

Another vendor, Ahlan, 65, who hails from Cirebon, West Java, said he agreed with the administration's plan, but urged the authorities to 'please do it after Lebaran'.

Jakarta Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises and Trade Agency head, Ratnaningsih, said she acknowledged the traders' fears, but waiting until after Lebaran to start the project would mean the renovation would continue beyond the 2013 fiscal year.

'If we start the construction in August, I am afraid it would not be completed on time and we would have to continue the project into the following fiscal year, in April 2014. Plus, it would mean more money,' she said.

Ratnaningsih said the old wet market would be dismantled and replaced with a totally new building.

'This market will be like the modern BSD [Bumi Serpong Damai] Market in Serpong. We are opting for a hangar-style building because [...] that kind of architecture will work better than this two-story building, which is always empty on the second floor,' she said.

Using Rp 9 billion (US$925,925) from the city's 2013 budget, the market will be the first of its kind to be renovated by the administration of Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who is known to have reformed the image of wet markets and street vendors during his tenure as mayor in Surakarta, Central Java.

For Carsiti, who has been selling staple food in the market since 1983, her main concern was that she could lose some of her kiosks after the new building was established.

'I lost seven kiosks that I had bought from previous vendors, using all of my savings, after a renovation project on the market in 2003,' she said, adding that she now occupied a block of six kiosks worth Rp 60 million and two other spots in the fish area.

Ratnaningsih said she would ensure that 250 vendors in the market would be given places in the market. She said no vendor should trade-in their kiosks as they belonged to the city administration.

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