Japan putting $689M toward realignment of U.S. forces

Japan putting $689M toward realignment of U.S. forces
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 28, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Japanese government has decided to allocate $689 million during the next fiscal year for projects related to realigning U.S. forces in Japan.

According to an announcement late Wednesday by the Ministry of Defense, about $345 million will be set aside for moving about 8,000 Marines and their families to Guam, a move expected to be complete in 2014.

That’s a sharp increase from the $4 million allocated for the project in the 2008 budget.

Also included in the budget is $93.9 million for construction of a new Marine air facility on Camp Schwab to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

The plan to relocate the present air station, in the middle of an urban area in central Okinawa, to the rural northeast coast includes building two runways that will extend from Camp Schwab on the Henoko Peninsula into reclaimed land in Oura Bay.


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