Extravagant public works projects which destroy environment must be ended -- Akahata editorial, June 7, 2001 (Excerpts)

Reduction of public works projects is the focal point of the current political argument. Expenditures on public works projects by central and local governments amount to 50 trillion yen annually.

To spend such a large amount of money was decided as an implementation of the "basic plan of public investment" which was agreed on in the 1990 Japan-U.S. Structural Impediments Initiative (SII) consultations.

The basic plan, which calls for 630 trillion yen to be used in the 13 years from 1995, was imposed by the U.S. call for increased public investment in Japan to ensure more opportunities for U.S. exports and companies entering Japan's market.

In the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Affairs meeting on June 6, Sasaki Kensho of the Japanese Communist Party demanded a review of the basic plan. Finance Minister Shiokawa Masajuro said that he agreed with Sasaki's idea.

What is necessary is to cancel all wasteful public works projects such as dam construction and reclamation which are being criticized for destroying the environment.

But Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro stated that he will push ahead with the Kawabe River dam construction in Kumamoto Prefecture and the Isahaya Bay reclamation in Nagasaki Prefecture, the two major destructive projects which only waste money.

In the U.S. and Europe, flood control and irrigation depend on measures other than dams because the construction of large dams is very expensive and harmful to the environment. In Japan, many farming people who live near the Kawabe River are also much opposed to the dam project, saying that they do not need the water from the dam.

The government says that the reclamation of the Isahaya Bay will contribute to "disaster prevention," but the bay's reclamation is totally unnecessary as a means of flood control.

The Koizumi Cabinet, which is promoting the environmentally destructive and extravagant public works projects is no different from past Liberal Democratic Party governments.

The JCP demands that these public works projects be changed to ones which will benefit the people's living and welfare. (end)