April 9, 2019

The U.S. Marine Corps has removed projects related to the construction of a new U.S. base in Okinawa’s Henoko district from its list of facilities to be built, Akahata on April 9 reported.

Akahata also reported that as the recently discovered existence of a very soft seafloor in the northern part of the reclamation site was confirmed and long-term ground improvement works became inevitable, the U.S. military presumably saw no good prospect in going ahead full steam with the Henoko base project.

The U.S. Marine Corps publishes every year its Aviation Plan (AVPLAN) which lists facilities to be constructed in the next few years. According to the 2016 version of the AVPLAN, runways and hangars would be built in the Henoko new base between October 2020 and September 2025 on the assumption that the Henoko reclamation works will make steady progress. However, the recently-published 2019 version omitted to mention the construction of these facilities.

Currently, the Japanese government-set deadline for the completion of the Henoko landfill work is October 2020. As any improvement work of soft sea bottom soils will take at least a projected three years and eight months, the Japanese government admits that the construction period to complete the new U.S. base should be prolonged but it has yet to present a new schedule.

Under this situation, the Marine Corps could decide to improve the existing facilities in the U.S. Futenma Base in order to keep using the old base for a longer period of time.

Past related articles:
> 10,000 Okinawans rally to oppose Henoko base construction [March 18, 2019]
> Backed by referendum results, Okinawa will push Tokyo to give up on Henoko base project [February 26, 2019]
> Mayonnaise sea bottom will lead Henoko base project to dead end [January, 22, 2019]