The government will soon resume building a controversial dam in Gunma Prefecture, construction minister Takeshi Maeda announced Thursday, reversing a Democratic Party of Japan election promise to scrap what it had criticized as a pork-barrel project.

At a news conference, Maeda said that the Yanba Dam is needed to prevent floods and other disasters, and that the government plans to earmark funds for it in the fiscal 2012 budget.

"It's regrettable the result turned out to be different from what our campaign pledges promised. But I made a decision, and it was hard," he said.