Photo/Illutration An illustration of the venue for the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo to be held in Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay (Provided by the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition)

Organizers of the problem-plagued 2025 Osaka expo warned that soaring construction costs still threaten to derail the event unless more money is found.

Senior officials of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition notified the Osaka city government July 28 that the current estimate of 185 billion yen ($1.31 billion) needs to be revised.

They cited soaring material and labor costs, among other things. The financial burden of hosting the event is being shared equally by the central government, the Osaka prefectural and municipal governments and the business community.

It marks the second upward revision in costs since the project was first mooted, a development that is bound to invite criticism.

The construction costs are for the wooden main roof of the Japan Pavilion, eight theme pavilions and event halls that the association will order. The initial target of 125 billion yen was increased to 185 billion yen in 2000.

Despite some leeway that came with the revised estimate, prices and labor costs have risen far beyond what anybody envisaged. Additional expenses, such as measures to combat the sweltering summer heat and installing security-related equipment, have also bloated.

A delegation led by the association’s secretary-general, Hiroyuki Ishige, met with top officials of Osaka city and economic organizations on July 28, sources said.

“We are in a very difficult situation because of the various cost increases,” Ishige told the meeting.

The business community’s current share of the total bill comes to 61.7 billion yen, which it expects to cover with corporate donations. It anticipates that the donations will exceed the target by more than 10 billion yen.

During the meeting, it was suggested that the anticipated surplus in corporate donations be allocated to the rising construction bill.

If the central government, along with the Osaka prefectural and municipal governments, accepts the same additional burden as the business community, the construction costs could be increased to a maximum of 220 billion yen, a business community representative explained.

Since the total cost is to be shared equally by the three parties, including the central government, any increase would require coordination with Tokyo.

(This article was written by Kazuhito Suwa and Amane Sugawara.)

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