Ministry submits corrected application documents for Henoko land reclamation

May 31, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

The central government has submitted corrected documents of the application to the Governor of Okinawa for permission to reclaim land off Henoko, Nago to start the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. At 11:53 a.m. on May 31, officials of the Okinawa Defense Bureau delivered the documents to a local office of the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG).

Later that same day Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima said, “We need to look through the documents first. Now we can get to work on checking the application. Following the rules, we will now consider whether or not to accept the application.”

A representative of the OPG said, “If we confirm that the ministry has adequately corrected the application documents, we will get them ready for public inspection.
If they have not adequately corrected them, we ask the government to do it again.”

Director of the Okinawa Defense Bureau Hiroshi Takeda said, “Removing the dangers posed by Futenma Air Station is a pressing issue. We will not allow Futenma to become a permanent fixture. Some people criticize the land reclamation project, but we will continue to explain government policy and do our best to gain the consent of the Okinawan people.”

On April 12, the OPG asked the Okinawa Defense Bureau to correct the written application the central government submitted to the Governor of Okinawa on March 22. The OPG asked the central government to file the corrections by June 11.

(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)

Go to Japanese


　


Previous Article:
Next Article:

[Similar Articles]