The government’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal is seen including ¥267.8 billion in spending to promote Okinawa Prefecture’s development, down ¥100 million from the previous year, a government estimate showed Friday.
The Okinawa promotion spending would stand below ¥300 billion for the third successive year, according to the estimate, presented by the Cabinet Office at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s commission on the Okinawa development.
The decline apparently reflected a dispute between the central government and Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki over the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area in Nago, also located in the prefecture.
In 2013, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised to secure at least ¥300 billion in annual spending for Okinawa promotion until fiscal 2021, which ended in March 2022, hoping to achieve progress in the unpopular Henoko relocation project.
Since fiscal 2022, the spending has stayed below ¥300 billion.
In its budget request for fiscal 2024, submitted in summer this year, the Cabinet Office sought ¥292 billion for Okinawa promotion spending.