MAEBASHI, Oct. 27, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- Land minister Seiji Maehara told six governors from the Kanto region Tuesday the national government will come up with an alternative to the Yamba Dam project in Gunma Prefecture in pursuing its contentious policy to abort the decades-long project.
It is the first time the governors of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tochigi and Tokyo, who have stakes in the 460 billion yen dam project and joined hands to promote it, have directly confronted the land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister all together.
''We promised (to the public) to change the way taxes are used from concrete to people,'' Maehara said at the meeting in the prefectural capital of Maebashi. ''On the occasion of a change in government, we will review how dam projects should be.''
As part of a review of nationwide dam projects, the Yamba Dam's projected purposes of flood control and water supply will be reexamined, the minister said, adding, ''I think we cannot convince you unless we present what kind of alternative is available.''
The governors of the prefectures bearing part of the project costs, as well as local residents, have raised objections to the government's policy to cancel the multipurpose dam project that dates back to 1952 and was planned to be completed in fiscal 2015.
Chiba Gov. Kensaku Morita proposed in response, ''I think it would be easier for local people to come forward (for talks with the minister) if the cancellation policy is shelved.''
Saitama Gov. Kiyoshi Ueda criticized Maehara, saying, ''I feel that you made the decision just because it is written on the manifesto for the House of Representatives election, without considering the merits and demerits.''
Following the Democratic Party of Japan's election victory in August with a pledge to cancel the project, Maehara, who assumed office on Sept. 16, has reiterated the DPJ-led government will pursue the policy, and called off the bidding process for the dam's main structure on Oct. 2.
Stunned by the government's abrupt policy change, however, residents in the local Naganohara town who have come to accept the 57-year-old project they initially opposed boycotted exchanging opinions with Maehara when he visited the town Sept. 23.
On Oct. 19, the six governors urged the central government to retract the policy in a joint statement after visiting the dam's planned construction site in a show of their unity to push for the project.
Before departing for Tuesday's talks in Maebashi, Maehara told a press conference in Tokyo he has so far excluded the Yamba and other dam projects which the DPJ vowed to cancel in its election manifesto from the planned review of more than 140 dam and headrace projects across Japan, but they will now be included.
His ministry will set up a team of experts in the near future to draw up criteria for the process, he added.
