T

he government has allocated Rp 159 billion (US$12.08 million) from the state budget (APBN) to rebuild the Klewer Market, which was set ablaze at the end of 2014, in Surakarta, Central Java, an official says.

The Trade Ministry'€™s director general for domestic trade, Sri Agustina, said on Monday that the government would disburse the funds for the market'€™s reconstruction project, expected to begin in June, in two stages.

For the first stage, it had distributed Rp 61.8 billion via this year'€™s revised state budget while for the second stage, Rp 97.2 billion would be provided via the 2016 state budget.

'€œThe first stage of funds has been distributed in April so there is still the remaining Rp 97.2 billion worth of reconstruction budget which we will propose in the 2016 APBN,'€ Agustina said at the Surakarta mayor'€™s official residence, known as Loji Gandrung, on Monday.

She said the government would ensure that the rebuilding of the Klewer Market would be finished in 2016.

'€œIn June, the project will begin. It will start with the building'€™s construction,'€ said Agustina.

Earlier, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo said that the development of the Klewer Market should be completed in 2015. The President conveyed the instruction during a visit to the market after it was burned down in December last year.

Agustina said the Klewer Market development could not be completed this year due to a number of obstacles the government was facing, including its reconstruction budget that could only be included in this year'€™s revised state budget.

'€œWe have quite a short period of time. The funding could be included in the APBN only in January, so it could be disbursed only in April. Therefore, we have to allocate additional funds in the 2016 APBN. We can make sure that the development of the Klewer Market can be completed in 2016,'€ said Agustina.

Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo said his administration would contribute to financing the detailed engineering design (DED), and fees for supervisors and planning consultants as well as the demolition of the remnants of the two-story market.

Rudy, as he is fondly called, said the market would be developed into a four-story building, adding he hoped it could accommodate all traders as well as street vendors who earlier operated around the market.

'€œLater, there will be no more street vendors who were previously blamed for causing traffic jams,'€ he said.

For the new market, Rudy further said that the administration would apply a bylaw on kiosk ownership that stated a person could only own a maximum of four kiosks.

'€œSo no more people could own five to 10 kiosks [like before],'€ he said.

The iconic market was destroyed by fire on Dec. 27 last year. No fatalities were reported but the financial losses were estimated to reach Rp 5 trillion (US$400 million) as some 1,660 of the market'€™s 2,100 kiosks were destroyed.

The market was built by Surakarta'€™s famed Sultan Pakubuwono X and was opened in 1970. It was located on a 500 by 1,500 meter plot of land and accommodated 2,320 kiosks and 1,532 vendors, plus an additional 765 casual vendors.