FUKUI (Kyodo) Kansai Electric Power Co. has informed Fukui and Kyoto prefectures that it intends to give up a four-decade-old plan to build a hydroelectric power plant, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The company decided against the plan because it can't acquire the land it needs and because demand for power is weak in the area. Citizens' groups have been fighting to preserve a virgin beech forest in Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture, that is threatened by the project.
The project called for building the lower reservoir and the hydroelectric power plant in Oi, Fukui Prefecture, and the upper reservoir on the Kyoto side.