Photo/Illutration The Yumeshima manmade island, the venue of the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo, in Osaka Bay on July 31 (Masaru Komiyaji)

A government-owned insurance agency is offering an exclusive policy to speed up the construction of pavilions for countries and regions participating in the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo.

Nippon Export and Investment Insurance’s expo trade insurance will cover damage that contractors incur if they do not receive payments for pavilion construction, the economy ministry announced on Aug. 2.

The ministry hopes the insurance will encourage contractors who may be reluctant to undertake pavilion construction due to the risk of default by foreign companies or governments.

A total of 153 countries and regions have announced their participation in the expo, which is scheduled to open on April 13, 2025. 

Fifty-six of them are expected to build pavilions at their own expense. These distinctive facilities, known as Type A pavilions, will be among the expo’s main attractions.

It usually takes about 18 months to build a pavilion, meaning construction must start by this autumn to be completed in time for the expo's opening.

But only one country has applied to the Osaka city government for the required permit to construct a temporary facility.

The new insurance will apply to Type A pavilions.

It will cover 90 percent or more of contractors’ damages if foreign companies that placed an order for pavilion construction go bankrupt or the foreign governments become insolvent due to economic sanctions or other reasons.

But it remains unclear if the insurance will accelerate pavilion construction.

Contractors are generally reluctant to undertake construction because of minimal profits due to soaring labor costs and other factors.

The participating countries and regions have also had little time to prepare after the novel coronavirus pandemic pushed back the previous expo in Dubai by one year.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, which is organizing the expo, is even considering erecting a prefabricated building for Type A pavilions behind schedule.

Under the plan, the association would construct a prefabricated, bare-bones building for willing countries and regions, and those participants would turn the facility into their own pavilions by furnishing it both inside and out.

The countries and regions would be asked to shoulder the construction costs for the prefabricated building.

The economy ministry has beefed up staffing to support the expo project.

At a ministry meeting on Aug. 2, economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura announced that Tadashi Mogi, director-general for commerce and service industry policy, will exclusively work on expo affairs and that Akihiro Tada, former vice economy minister who serves as a ministry adviser, has been tasked with expo affairs.

According to the ministry’s International Exhibitions Promotion Office, the team handling the construction of foreign countries’ pavilions has been expanded from five staff members to 11.

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