TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Yogyakarta City administration plans to name at least 600 buildings as heritage sites by 2016. "The number could be higher since there are plenty of new heritage buildings in Yogyakarta," said Edy Muhammad, chief of the Yogyakarta City's Regional Development Planning Agency, Tuesday, June 23.
These buildings will receive special treatments, including property tax incentives.
The Yogyakarta Culture and Tourism Office has the authority to determine which buildings are cultural heritage sites. As for the officiation, it will be done by the government Yogyakarta and the central government.
The facades of buildings that have been designated as heritage buildings, Edy said, must be preserved.
"But the use of the buildings can be modified and adjusted."
Some of criteria for a building to be named heritage buildings include having a unique characteristic, is a marker of a region, and at least 50 years old. Currently there are 463 heritage buildings and cultural sites in the city of Yogyakarta.
Eko Maharso Suryo, Yogyakarta's head of tourism and culture office, said there are many buildings in the city that can be categorized as cultural heritage buildings, but have not been officiated by the government.
"Many of these buildings have classical Java architectural style, or colonial and Chinese architecture designs," he said.
ANTARA | RR