Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 1 - 7 [POLITICS]

Controversial dam construction decided within inner circle

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Shiokawa Tetsuya on February 1 at a House Budget Committee meeting revealed that municipal officials who considered whether to continue with the Yanba dam project were temporarily transferred central government personnel.

The discussion was conducted by 13 officials of the Land and Construction Ministry’s field agency and six prefectural governments related to the dam construction, including Gunma Prefecture where the dam construction site is located.

When Shiokawa asked Land and Construction Minister Maeda Takeshi about a Gunma prefectural government official, asking, “Where is he from?”, Maeda answered, “He’s from the Land and Construction Ministry.”

Shiokawa asked about other officials coming from Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures and the minister again answered, “From the Land and Construction Ministry.”

This question-answer session made committee members laugh while Committee Chair Nakai Hiroshi said in impatient voice, “How many Land Ministry personnel are transferred to local governments related to the dam project?”

Eventually, Shiokawa found out that among prefectural government officials, four are temporarily transferred from the Land and Construction Ministry and one from the Internal Affairs Ministry.

Providing background information in regard to the continuation of the project, Shiokawa cited the fact that since 2004, 46 private sector companies accepting 104 retired Land Ministry’s bureaucrats received dam project-related contracts, amounting to about 15 billion yen.

Companies that commissioned research reports regarding the dam construction also provided posts to retiring ex-bureaucrats from central ministries. All the reports gave strong endorsement to the construction plans.

Shiokawa said that it is unacceptable to push ahead with the dam project without the commissioning of an independent study.