Underground highway construction plan threatens World Heritage site in ancient city

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Underground highway construction plan threatens World Heritage site in ancient city

Residents and researchers have voiced strong concern over a plan to construct an underground highway in the designated buffer zone of the Ancient Nara Palace Site in Nara City. The Nara Palace Site is one of the eight "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara" registered in the World Heritage list.

The national and prefectural governments intend to officially adopt in the next fiscal year the expressway construction plan as well as a plan to build in the Nara Palace Site a main venue for the Commemorative Events of the 1,300th Anniversary of Nara "Heijokyo" Capital to be held in 2010.

Constructing expressway damages ancient relics

In the Nara "Heijokyo" Capital Site, as many as 180,000 wood strips useful for understanding the ancient society have been discovered. Construction of tunnels will cause fluctuations in groundwater levels that may damage the wood strips and other ancient relics.

At a House of Representatives education and culture committee meeting on October 20, Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ishii Ikuko criticized the government for asserting that the expressway construction will not negatively affect the wood strips while it will lower the groundwater level that has maintained a constant level for 1,300 years.

In July this year, the residents' association to protect the Ancient Nara Capital Site and JCP Prefectural Assembly member Yamamura Sachiho participated in the 30th World Heritage Committee held in Lithuania. The committee adopted a resolution calling on the Japanese government to consider alternative options for the route of the highway.

Under the command of business circles

The underground highway is a part of the Kansai beltway that the government decided to construct in the 1987 Forth Comprehensive National Development Plan. It will cost 310 billion yen to construct the highway and 35 billion yen (including public funds of 14.5 billion yen) to carry out the 1,300th anniversary events.

At a 2006 New Year press conference, Kansai Economic Federation Chairman Akiyama Yoshihisa said, "We will strengthen our competitiveness by making use of the traditional culture and intellectual accumulation unique to the Kansai area." Akiyama also heads the Association for Commemorative Events of the 1,300th Anniversary of Nara "Heijokyo" Capital.

These two projects are nothing other than business circles' profit-making schemes using World Heritage sites with support from the national and prefectural governments.
- Akahata, October 30, 2006