Kansai International Airport-Construction of Man-Made Island

摘要

In 1993, Japan will open her second major international airport in the Osaka Bay, five kilometers offshore and approximately 300 miles south-west of Tokyo. The new airport was proposed in order to solve serious operational limitations at the existing Osaka International Airport which has been caused by noise pollution problems. This new airport is expected to change the conventional air traffic patterns by allowing a smoother and more natural flow of the air traffic around Japan. It is also hoped by having the new international airport in the Osaka Bay, to enhance the industrial and cultural potentiality of the Kinki Region which covers cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara and Wakayama. Locations of airports in Japan is shown in Pig.1. The need for the new airport, the Kansai International Airport, was recognized in anticipation of environmental problems at the existing Osaka International Airport arising due to developing air traffic in the beginning of 1965, Actual study of this project was started in 1968. As the result of close examination of four proposed sites, the Council for Civil Aviation reported in 1974 that offshore of the "Senshu" area (south-eastern part of the Osaka Bay) was the most appropriate site for the new airport. The Council for Civil Aviation made the second report in 1980, that summarized a draft plan for the Kansai International Airport. The Ministry of Transport submitted three reports of "The Kansai International Airport plan", "Environmental Impact Statement for the Kansai International Airport" and "Proposed Regional Development Concept" to three prefectures around the airport site, i.e. Osaka, Wakayama and Hyogo Prefectures, in May 1981. Five years were required for these three prefectures to approve these three reports in principle.