第5回コラム
Fifth Column

　My name is Minakawa from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

　

　For the third article of our column series, I would like to introduce the ministry's efforts related to overseas infrastructure projects.

 

　The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has formulated an ' Action Plan for the Overseas Development of Infrastructure Systems', based on the government-wide ' Infrastructure System Export Strategy', and is promoting the overseas development of infrastructure based on this plan (for detailed information, please refer to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism's website. (https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/sogo05_hh_000317.html).

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　As for specific operations, the Overseas Project Division, to which I belong, allocates responsibilities by country and region, serves as the international contact point for the ministry, and coordinates with relevant organizations such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and JICA, as well as relevant internal departments. We also respond to inquiries from Japanese companies involved in overseas projects and conduct research and deliberations aimed at forming new projects.

 

　In this article, I would like to introduce our initiatives in the urban sector, specifically my work on research and deliberations for the formation of infrastructure projects in Central Asia, as well as studies on the potential for disseminating knowledge and technology related to green infrastructure overseas.

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　Starting with Central Asia, this region consists of five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Located roughly at the center of the Eurasian continent, this area thrived in ancient times as a hub of the Silk Road, connecting Europe and Asia. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, these countries have been undergoing economic development, and Japan has built relationships with them over several decades.

　

　This August, the "Central Asia + Japan" Dialogue summit was planned to be held in Kazakhstan, and Prime Minister Kishida was scheduled to attend, but it was postponed due to crisis management issues.

　

　Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world by area, is rich in natural resources, including oil and uranium. Its capital, Astana, is a relatively new city, relocated from the former capital of Almaty in 1997 due to various factors, and it was developed based on the master plan by the late architect Kisho Kurokawa, who won the New Capital Design International Competition.

　

　When I visited Astana in mid-March, the temperature was still as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius. It is said to be the second coldest capital in the world after Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Additionally, the current population of approximately 1.3 million significantly exceeds the original plan of 800,000, and it is projected to reach 2.3 million in the future.

　

　Through our discussions with the government of Kazakhstan, it has become clear that infrastructure development has not kept pace with the increasing population influx into urban areas, resulting in issues such as traffic congestion and winter air pollution. Updating the city, including a revision of urban planning, has emerged as a pressing issue. Moving forward, we will continue to engage in dialogue with the government of Kazakhstan and explore these challenges further. At the same time, we will communicate with the players responsible for operational cooperation, as well as financiers critical to project implementation, to identify ways in which Japan can contribute to these efforts and to shape concrete outcomes.

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Picture-1 Status of the City (March 2024)

Picutre-2 Bayterek (Observation Tower) (March 2024) 

Picture-3 Apartment Buildings (so-called Stalinist Architecture) (March 2024)

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  The next area we are focusing on is green infrastructure. In middle-income countries such as those in ASEAN, cities are rapidly urbanizing due to rapid population growth. As a result, urban problems such as a lack of open spaces like parks and increasing occurrences of urban disasters, such as inland flooding from short, intense rainfalls caused by climate change, are becoming more frequent. We are considering whether we can contribute by utilizing green infrastructure, such as parkland, as an approach to addressing these urban issues. This is our first attempt this fiscal year. While we do not yet have specific solutions — for instance, whether the project would involve building parks with disaster prevention capabilities or providing technical cooperation to share knowledge about legal systems for securing urban green spaces — we are engaging in dialogue with the partner countries, carefully analyzing the urban challenges they face. We are exploring whether Japanese knowledge and technology related to parkland and green spaces can contribute to creating sustainable and comfortable urban environments. If you have any information related to this work, we would greatly appreciate it if you could share it with us as a reference. We welcome any input you may have.

 

  I look forward to your continued support in the future.