Amid opposition by the native population, Japan Wednesday began construction work to relocate a US military base within Okinawa province.
The move by the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida came following a court order after objections by the provincial government in southern Japan.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said it will "likely take more than nine years" to reinforce soft ground at the relocation site for US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.
Kishida government had granted approval to begin work in late December.
Okinawa hosts the bulk of US military facilities in Japan and local people have long opposed the relocation of the base. They have demanded the government shift the base out of the province.
More than 50,000 US soldiers have been deployed in Japan under a bilateral defense pact since the end of World War II in 1945.
Currently, the US base is located in a crowded residential district in Ginowan and Tokyo wants it to be shifted to the less populated Henoko coastal area of Nago under an agreement signed in 1996.
The government has planned to reclaim land off Henoko to construct two V-shaped runways for the use of the US military.
Part of the landfill work, which started in 2018, has been completed in the southern part of Henoko.
However, the Defense Ministry sought design changes in Oura Bay due to soft ground in 2020 and the work on the larger portion of the new site was stalled as local authorities did not approve the new plan amid opposition from local residents.
The court last month asked the Okinawa government to approve the new plan within three working days, failing which the Kishida government will implement the order.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki ignored the court order, calling the Kishida government's move "unacceptable."
Such a move "robs" the provincial government "of its administrative authority and means they are trying to construct a new base by infringing on our autonomy and independence," he said last month.
