port (coasts requiring protection) are expected to protect the adjoining land from high tides, tidal waves and the like, via coast protection facilities such as dikes and shore protection. At present, improvement work is in progress covering about2,960 km.
As the main measures in the 6th Five-Year Plan for Coastal Works starting in FY1996, the Ministry of Transport will promote the development of safe and high-quality coasts that will protect the lives and property of the people, by taking steps to enhance disaster prevention measures such as promoting the improvement of tidal wave barriers. At the same time the Ministry will pro-mote the improvement of facilities in order to assure the safety of coasts that are not protected from high tides, tidal waves, high waves and other disasters or coastal erosion, and implement earthquake-proof measures and others in order to assure the safety of coastal protection facilities in the event of an earthquake.
In addition, as well as aiming to create virtually natural coasts and taking steps to maintain, restore, or create beaches and create coastal greenery such as pine groves, coexistence with nature will be strived for so that the ecoenvironment of life forms. that use or inhabit coastal areas is not threatened, and coastal improvement be promoted to create a rich and luxuriant environment.
The Ministry will promote the development of coasts that are easily amenable, human-friendly, beautiful and pleasant, such as beaches that will allow people to become familiar with the sea in everyday life and will be easy to use for elderly and disabled persons, beaches that will allow people to relax and be refreshed in response to growing recreational needs, and coasts that will make the most of regional features, be used for various activities and become cores of "urban creation's".
6 Development of Port and Harbour Technology
In order to cope with the decrease in skilled workers engaged in port and harbour construction and the aging of the workforce, the Ministry is developing technology for prefabrication that will allow simple assembly of caissons on site, and underwater installation robots that can facilitate work at great depths, with a view to saving energy and improving safety levels in port and harbour construction work.
The Ports and Harbours Technology Research Centre, with the aim of creating a better coastal environment, is improving indoor test facilities for artificial tidelands that can reproduce various meteorological and oceanic conditions etc., and are developing technology for example on the preservation and creation of tidelands and sea beaches where there is potential for water quality purification. Meanwhile, it is also taking steps to enhance various test devices such as centrifugal load devices that can reproduce phenomena arising in sea bed foundations through the effect of centrifugal speed of 1000 or more on a model of the sea bed, in order to more accurately make behavioural forecasts of sea bed foundations needed when constructing port and harbour structures.
In addition, it is also developing cargo handling systems for terminals and high-speed cargo handling machinery compatible with TSL (technosuper liners), with a view to introducing TSL that will travel at high speeds of 50 knots.
