Mon, Dec 05, 2005 page5

• Japanese fearful amid widening construction scandal

  QUAKE SAFETY The number of questionable complexes now stands at 43; residents wonder how they will afford new homes while paying loans for the shoddy old ones

  • AFP
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  When young couples bought luxurious condominiums in this southern suburb of Tokyo last year, they never thought the value of the biggest purchase in their lives would evaporate within months.

  "I'm 35 years old now and bought the house with a 35-year loan," said a resident of Grand Stage Kawasaki Daishi, one of a growing number of buildings whose data on quake resistance were falsified by a cost-cutting architect.

  "My son will start going to school next year, and my wife and I are expecting another baby. This is more of a financial problem," he said.

  Japan -- which endures 20 percent of the world's major tremblors -- has long prided itself on building a quake-proof infrastructure that the rest of the world would envy.

  But since architect Hidetsugu Aneha confessed last month to having cooked the data on condominium and hotel buildings around Tokyo, more residents are facing up to fears more pressing than an earthquake itself.

  The scandal, spreading nationwide, is each day revealing more buildings that would be at risk during an earthquake, increasing the number of people who may have to move out their homes to the scale of thousands.

  At least 43 buildings were listed as of last week as possibly vulnerable due to the falsified data.

  For the residents of 23-unit Grand Stage Kawasaki Daishi, the fear of possibly losing their houses while still carrying the loan is spine-chilling.

  The Kawasaki city office has told residents to move out the dangerous building by the middle of this month, the first such order issued since the scandal surfaced.

  "The government, as well as media, seem to think we'll all be fine as long as we're out of the building," said the 35-year-old, who like other residents declined to be named as he was not a chosen community representative.

  "Any of us could go crazy thinking about double loans for the next 30 years, a more serious problem than the risk of a major quake itself," he said.

  The prices of the condominium units in this upscale commuter town range from ¥36.8 million yen (US$307,000) to ¥61.8 million each.

  Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the government will make about 2,200 residences available for the unlikely suburban refugees when they are forced to move out this month, and the government decided on a tax reduction measure for them.

  But if they move, the residents would have to pay for moving and new rent or a housing loan on top of the loan for the condo.

  "No one, even the government, understands we have no compensation, although they say residents' lives must be protected more than anything else," said another resident, a four-month pregnant, 27-year old housewife.

  The Japanese Bankers Association asked its 184 member banks for "sincere" measures to help borrowers who had purchased units in the condominium buildings, but it does not mention specific bailout plans.

  Kimura Construction, one of the central players allegedly responsible for the scandal, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

  It is not only residents and companies who suffer anxiety. People living next to the building also are worried.

  "My neighbor friends and I were amazed to see how quickly the condo was built" last year, said a 55-year-old housewife, a tenant of a two-story apartment adjacent to the nine-story Grand Stage Kawasaki Daishi. "If a quake hits, we'll be crushed at once."

  Beyond the architect, the scandal has touched developers, contractors and building design inspection companies all cutting corners in one of the world's most expensive countries to build in.

  Parliament last week summoned seven central figures of the scandal, including developer Huser's president Susumu Ojima, Kimura Construction president Moriyoshi Kimura and eHomes inspection company president Togo Fujita.

  Aneha was also summoned but did not comply, saying he was scared of being seen in public after a manager of an architect's office involved in the scandal was found dead on the sea shore near Tokyo, apparently after killing himself.
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