Offshore runway at Iwakuni delayed 2 years - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Offshore runway at Iwakuni delayed 2 years

TOKYO — The completion of an offshore runway at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni will be delayed by two years to March 2011, the Defense Ministry said.

The delay, however, will not affect the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan because the transfer of U.S. aircraft carrier-based airplanes to the Iwakuni base is scheduled by 2014, according to the ministry.

Under the realignment plan, 59 carrier-based airplanes, now stationed at U.S. Naval Air Facility Atsugi, are to be relocated to the Iwakuni base.

The completion of the offshore runway will be delayed from March 2009 because of delays in the handover of land for a taxiway and in the selection of the contractor to build a control tower, it said.

The delay is expected to boost the 240-billion-yen ($2.18 billion) construction cost.

The construction of the offshore runway, which is set to replace the current one within the base to address noise and safety concerns, began in fiscal 1996.

Japan and the U.S. agreed on the relocation of the airplanes in 2006.