Novianti Setuningsih – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) broke ground on its new Rp 215 billion ($17.9 million) headquarters on Monday in a ceremony that both commemorated international Anti-Corruption Day and ended a years-long standoff with lawmakers over the popular construction project.

"We picked to do this on the Anti-Corruption Day, as part of the commemorations," KPK deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto said. "We intentionally decided to start this year because next year is a political year."

The new building will replace the KPK's ageing headquarters on Jalan HR Rasuna Said, in Kuningan, South Jakarta, with a 16-story building on Jalan Gembira, in Guntur, South Jakarta. Construction will take three years to complete, Bambang said, and is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

The headquarters will be built on a 8,381-square-meter plot of land on Jalan Gembira in Guntur, South Jakarta, and will include enough detention cells to hold 50 corruption suspects at a given time as well as new office space for the KPK's growing staff.

The old building will be used as a training center for new recruits, Bambang said.

Lawmakers at the House of Representatives held the project in limbo for nearly four years with their refusal to approve the budget appropriation. The budget was originally submitted in 2008 when the KPK first started to complain of overcrowding and deteriorating conditions at the current building.

The public threw their weight behind the KPK as the project stalled, launching the "Coins for the KPK" campaign and collecting nearly Rp 403.6 million in donations to help fund the construction of a new headquarters.

The House approved the budget last year, awarding the tender to three companies – Pandu Persada, Artefak and Hutama Karya. The companies are in negotiations with a remaining homeowner on the plot of land in Guntur.