Japan Press Weekly

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2015 June 3 - 9 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP calls for revision of costly, time-consuming design for new Olympic stadium

Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Miyamoto Takeshi on June 3 at a House committee meeting cited the planned construction of a new national athletic stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and said, “The construction will cost 162.5 billion yen, two times higher than the cost of the stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and three times higher than the 2012 London Olympics. The design and the budget for the new stadium should be completely revised.”

The Abe government is trying to have the Tokyo Metropolitan government pay 50 billion yen of the total cost. Miyamoto noted that the cost for constructing the former national stadium was fully covered by the national treasury after Diet discussions. “It is natural for the national government to bear the financial responsibility for facilities designated as ‘national’,” he added.

Miyamoto proposed that the central government should:

- simplify the original plan in order to keep the total construction cost practical;
- take measures to maintain the living environments of people in the vicinity and preserve the surrounding landscape;
- secure financial resources needed for the construction and refrain from using revenues from various lotteries, including a proposed baseball lottery;
- disclose all information to the general public and reflect their opinion in the construction plan; and
- take responsibility for the maintenance of the stadium.

Saying, “These are forward-looking, constructive proposals. I can agree on many points,” Sports Minister Shimomura Hakubun replied that it is necessary to curb the cost and scale down the stadium size.

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The JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members’ Group on June 2 made representations to the sports minister, demanding the withdrawal of his request to the Tokyo government to shoulder part of the construction cost.

The JCP lawmakers’ group referred to the Local Government Finance Act which in general prohibits municipalities from using their tax revenues for financing state-run facilities.

It also pointed out that under the current plan, the new stadium will become a gigantic facility with two “keel arches” and that these are causing the ballooning of the construction budget and the longer construction period. It demanded the drastic revision of the plan.

Past related articles:
> National stadium construction may not be finished by 2020 Tokyo Olympics [May 19 & 20, 2015]
> Construction for a 2020 Olympics stadium will cut down 1,708 trees [February 24, 2015]
> Tokyo Olympic venue plans to be revised as demanded by JCP and by IOC [December 5, 2014]