Since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009, infrastructure ministers have decided to continue 14 and suspend six of the 83 dam projects reviewed by their ministry and related municipalities.
The ministers' decisions on the 20 projects have matched the conclusions of the reviews. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry is still reviewing 63 dam projects.
The Yamba Dam case was the only one in which the ministry and the DPJ had disagreed. The ministry's Kanto Regional Development Bureau decided the Yamba Dam project should be continued. However, DPJ Policy Research Committee Chairman Seiji Maehara--a former infrastructure minister who does not support the project--intervened in this process before the current infrastructure minister, Takeshi Maeda, made his decision. (Yomiuri)
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