44 Months Needed for Henoko Offshore Soil Improvement: Govt

Tokyo, March 13 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Defense Ministry estimates that it will take 44 months to finish offshore soil improvement work needed to relocate a U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture, central government sources said Wednesday.

The work was newly found necessary in order to build a replacement facility in the Henoko coastal district in Nago as part of the project to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base from a densely populated area in Ginowan.

The central government has signaled the difficulty of meeting its goal of achieving the return of the Futenma base site as early as fiscal 2022.

With the addition of the soil improvement work, it has become uncertain when the site will be returned. Furthermore, the central government needs to hold talks with the Okinawa prefectural government to revise related construction plans.

Through offshore drilling surveys, the ministry found 73 hectares of weak ground at a point east of Cape Henoko, around which land will be reclaimed for the construction of the replacement facility.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]