In response to the fact that the construction cost of the venue for next year's Osaka-Kansai Expo is expected to rise to a maximum of 500 billion yen, 2350 billion yen more than in the past, Keidanren and the Kansai Economic Federation have announced that the business community will accept one-third of the increase. In addition, Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City have also decided to accept one-third of the increase, saying that it is unavoidable due to higher-than-expected inflation.
The Japan Exposition Association, which organizes the Osaka-Kansai Expo, had predicted a maximum of 1850 billion yen for the construction of the venue, but in October, due to soaring material and labor costs, it informed the national government, Osaka Prefecture, and cities that it expected the construction cost to be up to 10 billion yen, 500 billion yen more than before.
The construction cost of the venue is borne by one-third each of the three parties: the national government, Osaka Prefecture and city, and the business community.
Business community: "Inevitable for the success of the Expo"
The four organizations of the
Kansai Economic Federation
, the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives have been carefully examining the factors behind the upside, but on November 4,
they announced that they would accept one-third of
the increase.
In a statement issued jointly by the four organizations, the four organizations said that "efforts have been made to limit the extent of the increase, such as reviewing procurement methods," and that "we accept that the increase in construction costs is unavoidable for the success of the Expo, and we will continue to work firmly to secure the burden on the business community."
The business community has been soliciting donations from corporations, but there are persistent voices that it is not easy to collect more donations, and some people are of the opinion that the fund established based on the income from admission fees for the 11 Osaka World Exposition should be considered.
Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City "Higher-than-expected price rises are unavoidable"
In response to a request for a detailed explanation from the Exposition Association last week, Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City held a meeting at the Osaka Prefectural Government Office on November 11 with Governor Yoshimura and Mayor Yokoyama in attendance.
While the executives of the Exposition Association responded on the basis for calculating the increase, Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, based on the results of the prefectural and municipal examinations, decided to accept the burden of the increase, saying that it was unavoidable due to the above-expected inflation.
Afterwards, Governor Yoshimura told reporters, "I would like to apologize to the people of the prefecture and the people of Japan for the second increase, and I will do my best to achieve an even more wonderful Expo and an Expo that will have an effect on Japan as a whole, while making further efforts to control costs."
In the future, the prefectural government and the city will propose the necessary budgets to their respective assemblies based on national trends.