The land ministry will withdraw an application filed with a Kumamoto prefectural panel to revoke fishing rights at the planned site of a state dam on the Kawabe River, a ministry official said Thursday.
The move will put the construction project, first announced in 1966, back on the drawing board and authorities might have to consider whether it is still necessary to press forward with the dam amid all the setbacks.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, which still claims the dam is needed for water control, would have to start its application process from the beginning if it refiles for the fishing rights to be revoked.
The dam was to have served a number of purposes.