Photo/Illutration Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima responds to questions from reporters in the Kumamoto prefectural government building on Nov. 11. (Takahiro Takenouchi)

KUMAMOTO--Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima is poised to approve a new plan to construct a flood-control dam for the Kawabegawa river, which is a tributary of Kumagawa river, sources said on Nov. 11.

It comes after the Kumagawa river, located in the southern part of the prefecture, had flooded due to the record-breaking heavy rain in July, causing many casualties and serious damage to local infrastructure.

The new plan is expected to lay out details for building a flood-retention dam, which would only store water during flooding, according to sources. It is considerably different from the nixed Kawabegawa dam plan.

Kabashima is expected to reveal his vision at a prefectural assembly council meeting on Nov. 19.

Back in 1966, the former Ministry of Construction announced its plan for a Kawabegawa dam after huge floods swamped the Kumagawa river system three years in a row from 1963.

But then in 2008, Kabashima said he would suspend the plan, which would have had the dam become one of the largest in the Kyushu region, after residents voiced opposition.

“We should call off the plan and pursue flood-control measures without relying on the dam as much as possible,” he said.

The following year, the central government, at the time headed by the then Democratic Party of Japan, put the plan on ice.

If Kabashima approves the new plan for the dam, it would be a drastic change to flood-control policy.

After the plan was suspended, the central, prefectural and local governments alongside the river started to discuss alternative flood-control measures and began considering either enlarging the river channel to increase the water-flow capacity or raising the embankments.

But neither was ever realized, and then disaster struck when the torrential rain hit. After that, prefectural and local governments once again began to consider a dam as a policy option.

According to sources, Kawabegawa dam was initially going to be a multi-purpose dam, which included flood control, water irrigation and power generation.

But in 2003, the government lost a legal case over the Kawabegawa dam plan that questioned the legality of the agriculture ministry’s activity related to the irrigation project, forcing the whole thing into suspension. Power generation operators also withdrew from the plan.

Building a new dam specifically for flood control is grounded on different laws, so the existing plan would need to be replaced.

The prefectural government is considering building the flood-regulating dam because it can preserve the river environment.

Kabashima will adopt a river-basin management policy to minimize disaster damage by combining technology, including dams, and technical measures, such as evacuation planning.

(This article was written by Hideki Ito, Keiko Yasuda and Nanami Watanabe.)

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