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Ahead of schedule, land reclamation work in Okinawa Prefecture for the relocation of a U.S. military base restarted after the central government approved plan changes over the prefecture's objection. 

The Defense Ministry on Jan. 10 began construction in Oura Bay where soft seabed was found for the relocation of U.S. Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko district of Nago, also in the prefecture.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced the ministry's decision at a news conference.

The ministry on Jan. 9 started preparations and workers installed anti-pollution membranes to prevent fine sand and other substances from leaking out to sea.

The soft ground was found in the Oura Bay side, and Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki refused to approve the ministry’s application for design changes to the project to shore up the seabed.

However, land minister Tetsuo Saito on Dec. 28 gave approval “in lieu” of the governor by proxy. This allowed the ministry to begin the reclamation work in the bay.

Initially, it was assumed that construction would begin on Jan. 12, but Hayashi said, “We received a report from the Defense Ministry that construction on the Oura Bay side will begin today as the necessary preparations have been made.”

Hayashi also emphasized, "The central government believes that the relocation to Henoko is the only solution and that steadily proceeding with the construction work based on this policy will lead to the earliest possible full return of Futenma Air Station and the elimination of its danger."

Regarding the Henoko relocation plan, the central government initially estimated the total construction cost at more than 350 billion yen ($24 billion), but this has ballooned to approximately 930 billion yen after taking into account the ground remediation.

Hayashi said the construction period is expected to take nine years and three months, starting from today. 

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