KOFU, Yamanashi Pref. -- The home of Yutaka Endo (not his real name) resembles one in a lesser-developed nation. His living room walls are stained where the rain has leaked through cracks; the wind whistles through warped window and door frames.

A crack in the roof, which is bereft of several tiles that have broken away, continues down into a third-floor room and then along the stairway wall below.

"It's been like this for several years. We've spent several million yen on repairs, but this is an old house," he said. "We can't replace the tiles because they are a different size (from those used today). Even if we could, we'd first have to replace the roof, which has rotted where the rain has leaked in."

Endo is a victim of neither recession nor earthquake. Rather, he is one of several hundred residents living on the north side of Kofu who are suffering the consequences of a stalling local government redevelopment project that promised much for residents but has so far delivered very little.

In 1989, a 30 billion yen central city redevelopment plan was launched by local authorities in an attempt to revitalize the area surrounding Kofu Station, which lies at the heart of the city.

The redevelopment zone covers a 25-hectare expanse of land to the north and south of the station and incorporates property formerly belonging to East Japan Railway Co. It was aimed at sending Kofu into the new millennium in a blaze of glory.

Ten years on, and while the south side of the station bustles with shoppers and businesspeople, the redevelopment zone area immediately around the north exit, which had once thrived as the "front gate" to the city, features little more than parking lots and vacant land.

The first stage of the project was the preparation of land needed for the redevelopment project. It included the widening of roads feeding the city. Shops, houses and other buildings located along these routes were to be relocated.

Residents living along the routes were asked to provide around 15 percent of their land -- to be used for the road-widening project -- and relocate, or rebuild, their houses within the area of land that remained.

Residents were to receive compensation from the city equal to the value of their affected property, according to resident Toshiyuki Akaoka.

Akaoka added that 110 properties on the north side of the station were scheduled for relocation.

This stage of the project was initially scheduled for completion last March 31. But as the project made only slow progress due to a lack of funds and other reasons, relocation work only recently started on property No. 2 of the 110 on the north side.

"We were told that as the government was putting forward the money for the project, we should also bear some of the load and sacrifice some land," one resident said.

Although many buildings in the affected zone were old and decaying, residents did not rebuild, choosing instead to wait until the road-widening stage of the project was completed.

"The city has given us no clear indication as to where our properties will be moved -- to the left or right, back or forward," Akaoka said.

"Many people thought about rebuilding, but . . . when the project started in 1989, we were told that if we waited a few years, we'd be able to live in nice new houses in a more attractive environment. We've heard that for over 10 years, and they've only just relocated the first property," he added.

A major barrier blocking residents' plans to rebuild was a law enacted in 1990 that effectively prevented them from rebuilding their houses until the road-widening phase was completed, according to Akaoka.

Residents will be obliged to destroy -- at their own expense -- any newly built houses if they do not fit in with the road-widening plans.

"In the meantime, we have to live in houses that are becoming increasingly decrepit. Most of the buildings are like this; gaps in the window frames, leaking roofs. . . . Our living rights are really being violated," he said.

Another issue causing anxiety is the conspicuous number of elderly people living in the area.

Akaoka's 85-year-old mother also lives with him, and the old house is proving to be a big handicap for her.

"The stairs are steep and narrow and she has grown weak. For her sake, we have tried to persuade the city to let us rebuild. We told them, we'll build wherever they like. But they said it was out of the question," Akaoka said.

Akaoka also serves as chairman of the North Exit District Redevelopment Project Pushing Forward Committee, which was formed last year and has a membership of some 230 local residents and businesses.

Last month, the committee submitted a petition, backed up by some 12,800 signatures, to the Kofu mayor requesting a speedup of the project and an increase in the number of staff involved in the redevelopment scheme.

"We want them to speed up the project, and if they can't, to review the regulations. Also, we want them to actually come and look at each household's actual conditions, and let us do something about it. If they don't, then it is clear our rights are being violated," Akaoka said.

City officials meanwhile say the project will go ahead as planned, and cite a number of problems that have hindered progress.

According to Osamu Ariizumi, a Kofu municipal official, the purchase of some plots of land needed for the implementation of the project had taken more time than expected. This then delayed the production of blueprints (of the overall redevelopment plan).

"To write up the blueprints, we had to secure certain land purchases, which took up time and caused a delay," said Ariizumi, who also cited resistance from some residents to relocation.

But the major obstacle is a shortage of funds. The project was launched at the height of the asset-inflated bubble boom, which burst in the early 1990s and caused fiscal difficulties for many local governments.

"At the time (the project was started up), there was no perception of the economic bubble bursting," said Yukio Iwashita of the new city center preparation division of the municipal government. "Everything suggested that . . . the project would take off. But in the meantime, the economic conditions changed, and the project simply was not able to go to plan."

Realizing that the proposed completion date was looking more and more unlikely, city officials finally decided in 1997 to extend the completion date of the first stage of the project to 2003, a deadline scoffed at by residents and even embarrassing some officials.

"To be honest, even that estimate is a little optimistic," Kofu official Ariizumi said.

Amid the fund shortage, budgetary allocations for the project were scaled down. While initially the city was to spend 2 billion yen on the project in fiscal 1998, the budget was eventually revised to 200 million yen.

"At that rate, it would take (the city) 100 years to complete the project," Akaoka said.

Empty properties in the area are evidence that some residents either sold out early or simply gave up hope on the project.

"Of course, the land is not sellable now," an elderly resident said, adding that she has resigned herself to never seeing the project completed.

"The city has no finances. They'll never finish it within the next 20 years; I doubt whether they even have the will to finish it. Whatever! By the time they get to our place, we'll be dead," she said.