Tokyo will look different when people look up under proposed ordinance.

Crane your head back or shift your gaze upward while walking around Tokyo, and the first thing you see might not be the city’s famous neon signage or giant video screens, but a whole bunch of power lines. Exposed lines, strung from pole to pole, have long been the norm in Japan, but the Tokyo metropolitan government wants that to change, and is looking to prohibit them in new housing developments.

The proposal was announced on September 24 during a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly meeting. As of 2017, the Tokyo government already prohibits the installation of overhead power lines along new metropolitan-administered roads but the new ordinance, if enacted, would be the first in Japan to restrict residential property developers from using them in new projects, even on privately maintained roads.

While some initiatives to move power lines underground are part of efforts to improve aesthetics or preserve cultural legacies in historical neighborhoods, safety is the concern behind the Tokyo ordinance draft. Earthquakes are common occurrences in Japan, and if a quake is strong enough that it requires residents to evacuate and/or emergency service workers to deploy, then it might also be strong enough to have knocked over power poles, blocking road access into and out of the affected area.

So why doesn’t all of Japan’s electricity come from underground lines already? As we’ve discussed before, earthquakes aren’t the only form of disaster that Japan has to deal with. Though not as common, floods and landslides occur too, and in those cases the water and debris left behind can make it difficult to access subterranean power grids and restore electricity, hampering on-site relief efforts and making it more difficult for residents to return to their homes after the danger has passed. Then there’s the cost, which can be several times higher for underground lines as it is for overhead ones.

The Tokyo metropolitan government does offer subsidies to property developers putting in underground lines, with as much as 40 million yen (approximately US$270,000) depending on specific circumstances. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is unsatisfied with the rate of conversion, though, saying “We will be taking measures to accelerate the reduction of existing overhead power lines and prevent the installation of new ones.”

Some developers having continued to opt for overhead power lines despite the subsidies would suggest that the amount offered isn’t always enough to cover the costs of a subterranean system, and so the proposed ordinance could potentially lead to higher housing costs as developers pass along the extra expenses to apartment renters and homebuyers.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly says that it will be accepting comments from the public regarding the ordinance until October 24, one month from the plan’s announcement, and then making its decision. If the ordinance is enacted, it will initially affect the areas of Tokyo’s 23 wards inside of Route 7, where earthquake concerns are particularly pronounced, and later expand to all of Tokyo.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun via Jin, NHK News Web
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