The Tokyo High Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that barred the Tokyo Metropolitan Government from expropriating land in Akiruno, western Tokyo, for a state-approved project to route an expressway through the site.
In rejecting landowners' demands for an annulment of the expropriation and the withdrawal of state approval, presiding Judge Hiromitsu Ogita said: "Through the construction of the circular expressway, the public will benefit from alleviated traffic congestion. Noise and air pollution in the area is under the threshold set as an environmental standard, and more gain than loss is expected from the project."
About 100 landowners whose land is to be seized for the project asked the court to nullify the expropriation and the project approval, claiming the expressway is unlikely to alleviate traffic jams and would instead harm the environment. The defendants, the metropolitan and central governments, argued the project serves the public interest.