An illegal activity of the Okinawa Defense Bureau (ODB) was found out again. A responsible person in the Okinawa Preferectural government says that a belt conveyor was installed at Motobu Shiokawa Pier one month ago without a permission of the Prefectural government. Okinawa Prefectural government which is responsible for seaport management, has notified ODB several times to remove it because the installation is in violation of the ordinance. However, ODB has shown no intention of removing it so far.
ODB applied to Okinawa Prefectural government for permission to install a belt conveyor to Motobu Shiokawa Piert in January this year because delivery of earth/sand had been much delayed. The installation was to accelerate delivery of earth/sand. However, the installation before being permitted obviously violates the ordinance.
Also for Awa Pier, another place of shipping earth/sand, Ryukyu Cement Co. applied to Okinawa Prefectural government for extended use of an “old pier” that is to be removed before the end of March according to an agreement. That will leave only one pier available for use, most likely for shipping earth/sand exclusively, which will leave no room for their original business work.
Both Motobu Shiokawa Pier and Awa Pier are managed by Okinawa Prefectural government, which requires fair and strict handling. We hope that Okinawa Prefectural government will take a firm attitude on the construction of a new military base by ODB which has repeatedly violated the law. A campaign to appeal, “We will never permit ODB to use a belt conveyor”, will start today by citizens in front of the Prefectural office and continue up to March 27.
(In front of the Camp Schwab Gate)
Only a small number of citizens came to protest probably due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Approximately 20 people gathered this day. They geared their spirit up for protest by singing
songs and chanting slogans. The number of concrete mixer trucks has been increased again. A new work seems to have been started for strengthening the sea walls. Total 172 vehicles delivered the material in three times.
(In front of Ryukyu Cement Awa Pier)
The dump trucks continued to turn left to enter the gate to make deliveries. Because vehicles turning left presents a risk of dragging people standing nearby, Yamashiro Hiroji and 10 people staged a sit-in protest, but were removed by the riot police. They kept on protesting after abeing released but were removed each time when they went back rallying.. 620 vehicles delivered the earth/sand from the quarry, and 691 truckloads of earth/sand from the stock yard were loaded to three carrier ships.
(Motobu Shiokawa Port)
The members of Shimagurumi in Uruma City rushed to join the protestors and stopped the work for about one hour and a half from 7:20 in the morning. After that, the number of protestors decreased to 4, but the protest was continued all day. Earth/sand of 393 vehicles were loaded to threee carrier ships.
number of dump trucks to date and percentage against the total
The weight and the volume of earth/soil were estimated per experts’ advice
Number of dump trucks which made delivery from December 2018 to the end of December 2019 114,601(1.68%)
| 21（Sat） | 23（Mon） | 24（Tue） | 25（Wed） | 26（Thr） | 27（Fri） | |
| Awa | 0 | 691 | ||||
| Shiokawa | 0 | 393 |
| Number of dump trucks ※ |
Weightt of earth/sand
※① |
Converted to volume
※② |
Volume per Total
※③ |
| 162,777 | 976,662ｔ | 488,331㎥ | 2.368% |
