BALI, INDONESIA, November 8, 2019 (Coconuts): Bali’s provincial government is setting aside around US$114,076 to revamp the Besakih Temple complex in Karangasem regency starting next year, with plans to build new food stalls and a parking facility in tow. “All this time we lacked earnestness in taking care [of Besakih Temple] that now it’s become less pristine because it’s crowded, chaotic and dirty. These things are affecting the purity and sanctity of Besakih,” Bali Governor I Wayan Koster said yesterday, as quoted by Detik. The revitalization project is set to start in 2020, with wrap-up scheduled for 2022.
This project includes repairs of the shrines and temples, as well as the development of a four-level parking facility, which will supposedly fit thousands of motorcycles and cars, and hundreds of buses. Furthermore, the government also plans on prohibiting street vendors in the area and instead reorganize them into stalls and kiosks that will be built. Besakih Temple is located on the slopes of Mount Agung in eastern Bali, and is considered one of the most important and holiest Hindu temples on the island.