2009 September 30 - October 6 [
US FORCES]
U.S. military urges local municipality to pay for relocation of its facilities
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October 2, 2009
Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, is calling for a return of part of its land used as a U.S. military communication facility, criticizing it for blocking local development due to the U.S. occupation of the central part of the city. In exchange for the return of the site, the U.S. side is urging the city to pay relocation costs.
In 1968, Tokorozawa City, the city assembly, and several civic organizations established a council calling for a closure of the local U.S. communication facility. In order to solve the situation in which civilian vehicles and ambulances have to go around the base even in emergencies, the council has demanded since 2001 that the Japanese government urge the U.S. forces to return part of its facility site for the city to construct a bypass road.
As the condition of the return, the U.S. side this year requested that the city pay for relocation of storage and other equipment now at the site.
While the U.S. forces did not indicate the specific cost, a report compiled by the Tokyo Defense Bureau in 2005 estimated 54 million yen for construction of a new storage facility at the Tokorozawa communication site.
At the September 16 Tokorozawa City Assembly meeting, Japanese Communist Party representative Hirai Akemi demanded that the city reject the request made by the U.S. side, pointing out that with 50 million yen a gymnasium for an elementary school can be built.
In March 2006, JCP House of Representatives member Shiokawa Tetsuya at a Budget Committee meeting asked the government if a precedent exists of any local municipality paying for the relocation of U.S. military facilities. A government official answered there has been no such case.
The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement does not require Japan to pay for the relocation of U.S. military facilities located at sites scheduled to be returned to Japan.
- Akahata, October 2, 2009
