Yanba dam project must be scrapped
On the controversial budgetary cuts in state projects, land minister Maehara Seiji on October 9 announced a halt to 48 out of the 56 dam projects that have been promoted by the state. This means that the government will take no further steps in support, including funding for land purchases as well as construction itself.
In October 2008, the Japanese Communist Party urged the government (then under the rule of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties) to review all new dam plans because the cost for completing those under construction are estimated at 4.5 trillion yen, which will waste about 300 billion yen each year.
The Yanba dam site is on the Agatsuma River in Naganohara Town, Gunma Prefecture.
The then opposition Democratic Party in its election “Manifesto” promised to halt the Yanba dam project.
Initially, the then construction ministry explained that the dam is necessary for flood control and to provide irrigation for farming. Today, the land ministry (formerly construction ministry) estimates the total cost at 460 billion yen. With other costs for related projects in the neighboring areas, as well as its interest payments, the total cost will reach about 870 billion yen.
About 321 billion yen has been spent on this plan as of March 2009, and the construction of the dam itself has yet to be started.
Shiokawa Tetsuya, who has been addressing the Yanba dam issue as a JCP member in the House of Representatives, outlined the issue as follows:
“In reply to my question in the House of Representatives in February 2005, the land ministry’s River Bureau director stated that the dam, if completed, will not be effective in controling a flood like the case of the 1947 Typhoon Kathleen.
The JCP Dietmembers’ Group in October 2008 requested the government to review its policy of pursuing the construction of dams without reasonable justification and to change its policy to giving priority to protecting the livelihoods of residents in watershed areas, calling for the Yanba dam project to be scrapped.
Recently, a local newspaper reported that a disagreement arose over the Yanba dam project between the ruling Democratic Party’s headquarters (against the project) and its Gunma organization (in favor of the project).
It is noteworthy that only the JCP argued in opposition to the project in the Diet as well as in the local assemblies.
It is natural that residents, who have been affected by this decades-long project, are infuriated by the central government’s announcement of the decision to scrap the project. Therefore, the DPJ-led government is called upon to sincerely apologize to them and deal with the matter in a transparent manner.
Relevant information must be open to the public so that they will fully understand why the project must be canceled.
The government must provide compensation for damages and take steps for appropriate regional development.
The JCP will urge the new government to further cooperation with regional residents so that the unwanted and unsafe project will be terminated in a just manner.”
- Akahata, October 10, 2009