What Japan Needs, More Public Demolition Projects

[homesweethome]

Costly legacy

Costly legacy: Demolishing dam will cost Kumamoto 4.7 billion yen

KUMAMOTO--The people of this mountainous area of Kyushu were determined to get rid of an aging and unproductive dam and restore the Kumagawa river to its former glory.

It seems they have won.

Or have they?

[Buraku]

how to solve this fucked up mess of failed public-works

[Mulboyne]

NRI: Building a Consensus Supporting the Idea of "Creative Destruction" of Public Infrastructure by 2010

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd....has performed an estimate of the funds required for maintenance and replacement of infrastructure in Japan. This estimate showed that should the current level of fiscal austerity be continued, reserve capacity for new investment in the three principal areas of infrastructure, i.e. roads, sewerage systems, and flood control, will be depleted in 2025 and will probably no longer cover the cost of maintaining and replacing infrastructure...Coping with this shortage will require not only a shift from expansion to contraction of the scale of infrastructure, but also a drastic rebuilding of infrastructure geared to the needs of a mature society - a program of "creative destruction" as it were. After 2010, large-scale replacement of existing infrastructure will be required. NRI believes that it is crucial to build, within the next few years, a social consensus concerning the optimal infrastructure for the future Japanese society...more...