Japanese ministry says Camp Schwab move for Marines on track

[unhappycamper]

Japanese ministry says Camp Schwab move for Marines on track
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, November 29, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Despite Japanese media reports to the contrary, Japan’s Ministry of Defense says it will meet the 2014 deadline for moving U.S. Marine air operations from MCAS Futenma to a new airfield on Camp Schwab.

A ministry spokesman said reports of a budget dispute between the Defense and Finance ministries concerning the project were speculative, based on anonymous sources and not indicative of the true state of the relocation plan.

"There is no change in the project’s schedule at this time while budgetary negotiations for fiscal year 2009 are now unde way within the government," said Takashi Sekine, chief spokesman for the ministry’s International Affairs Office.

According to the Roadmap of Realignment of U.S. Forces in Japan, construction for the new air station will start in 2010 and be completed by 2014. Work already has begun on an environmental survey.

"The government is making every effort to meet the deadline," Sekine said. According to a report on the Defense ministry’s Web site.


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