Tokyo Mulls Removing Utility Poles from Remote Islands

   Tokyo, May 8 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo metropolitan government is aiming to remove all utility poles from remote Pacific islands in an effort to prevent power outages caused by typhoons, officials said.
   The metropolitan government will pick out a model island for research during fiscal 2022, which ends March next year, to make Tokyo's remote islands free from utility poles as early as the 2030s.
   It is currently working on burying power cables underground, from the viewpoint of scenery and disaster prevention, leaving 52 pct of prefectural roads in its 23 wards without utility poles as of the end of fiscal 2019.
   The situation, however, is completely different in remote islands in the Izu and Ogasawara chains.
   There are as much as around 3,200 utility poles managed by the metropolitan government alone on 11 inhabited islands in the chains, with many more poles managed by island towns and villages.

(2022/05/08-12:00)

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