Tokyo prosecutors yesterday raided two major construction firms over suspicions that they colluded to secure contracts for Japan’s multibillion-dollar maglev project that is to see trains running at 500kph.
The state-of-the-art maglev — magnetically levitated — trains are scheduled to begin commercial service between Tokyo and Nagoya in central Japan in 2027, before later extending to the western hub of Osaka.
The giant project, estimated to cost ￥9 trillion (US$79.92 billion) in total, has seen various companies competing for contracts ranging from tunneling work to building stations.
Construction firm Kajima Corp’s headquarters and another Tokyo office were raided by investigators from the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office and the Fair Trade Commission for suspected anti-trust law violations, said a company spokesman who declined to be named.
“We’d like to decline to comment on further details as the investigation is ongoing. We will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation,” he said.
Shimizu Construction Co, another general contractor, also said it was raided yesterday.
The raids came after Japanese media reported that prosecutors would shortly raid Japan’s big four contractors — Kajima, Shimizu, Taisei Corp and Obayashi Corp — over alleged collusion.
Officials from the four companies, called “super general contractors,” met regularly to rig bids, local media alleged.
Of the last 22 bids related to the maglev project, 15 were won by joint ventures that the four groups had separately formed and distributed almost evenly among them, the reports said.
Taisei and Obayashi were not raided yesterday.
However, prosecutors searched Obayashi earlier this month on suspicion of obstructing other companies’ business.
The company reportedly pressured other contractors to drop their planned bids for a contract to build an emergency exit at Nagoya.
Shares in Kajima, Shimizu and Taisei yesterday dropped more than 2 percent while Obayashi’s share price closed slightly higher.
Maglev trains are to run at 500kph, about twice as fast as the current bullet trains in Japan. A maglev train clocked a new world speed record in a 2015 test run near Mount Fuji, smashing through the 600kph mark.
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