Aichi Prefecture officially told the central government Tuesday that local authorities will drop their plan to turn Nagoya's Fujimae tidal flats, the nation's most popular stopover for migratory birds, into a garbage landfill.
In a phone conversation with Transport Minister Jiro Kawasaki and a Tokyo meeting with Environment Agency chief Kenji Manabe, Aichi Gov. Reiji Suzuki informed the two government organs that the plan will be abandoned.
Kawasaki announced later Tuesday that his ministry, the prefecture and the city of Nagoya will set up a committee soon to determine within two months an alternative site for the planned landfill. Among locations now being considered is Port Island off Nagoya port — a man-made island constructed from silt dredged to make Nagoya Bay accessible to large ships.