Work to rebuild seawalls damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami was fully under way in just 20 percent of affected areas by the end of March, the government reported to its reconstruction promotion council Friday.
In the first assessment of its reconstruction projects, the government has found that work fell short of targets in two of 18 infrastructure-related categories, including failure to finish transferring tsunami-generated debris to temporary storage lots in 14 coastal municipalities.
Under a schedule compiled in November, work to rebuild seawalls was supposed to be up and running in 131 areas, or roughly 30 percent of the 416 areas affected by the tsunami, by the end of the fiscal year that ended in March. But work began in only 76 areas.
Seawall reconstruction has run into difficulties in many areas, with local residents split over a choice between scenery and safety when deciding how high the walls should be rebuilt.
As for debris generated by tsunami, work to move it to temporary storage areas was to have been completed in 23 coastal municipalities by the end of March but has been completed in only nine.
The delay is being tied to the time needed to gain owners' OK for tearing down damaged houses, given that more homes than originally anticipated have been earmarked for demolition.
Original targets were either largely or completely met in the rebuilding of farmland, farm facilities, fishing ports, fishing grounds, roads, airports and railways, according to the government.