MATSUE, Shimane Pref. -- Following the ruling coalition's termination of a 37-year-old controversial project to reclaim part of Lake Nakaumi and create 1,470 hectares of farmland, local municipalities are scrambling for new central government spending to make up for the aborted project.
Municipal governments around Lake Nakaumi are calling for construction of new roads and even reclamation of other parts of the lake to "revitalize the local economy" following the scrapping of the project.
Criticizing the requests as the "same old tactics," local citizens' groups opposed to the project said the local fishing industry should be promoted instead, and that administrators should restore the lake's natural conditions by destroying part of the embankments that were built for the fill work so the water will flow naturally.