KOBE -- A local citizens' group announced Thursday evening that more than 90 percent of nearly 278,000 people polled in and around Kobe oppose construction of an airport in the city.
Between July 22 and Aug. 4, a group of antiairport activists canvassed 185,000 registered voters and 21,500 Kobe residents without voting rights, including resident foreigners. An additional 66,500 people were polled in the cities surrounding Kobe.
"We asked people to vote for or against the airport to determine once and for all just how much support there really is," said Yasushi Hirata, a group leader.
Nearly 260,000 people, or more than 93 percent of the total, voted against airport construction, while about 13,000 voted for the project. About 5,000 votes were declared invalid. Other polls conducted several years ago by local media among Kobe residents only have shown an opposition rate of between 70 percent and 80 percent.
City officials Friday morning refused comment, other than to say the informal poll had no legal basis.
The assembly voted down a formal plebiscite proposal on the issue in December signed by one-third of the eligible voters, and final approval for construction was granted by the Transport Ministry earlier this year.
Construction of an artificial island in Kobe harbor on which the one-runway, domestic airport will be located is to start in mid-September. The airport is to begin operations in 2005.