Recovery Project funded by the State of Kuwait
1. Background
(1) Background
On April 18, 2011, through the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan received an offer from the
Minister of Oil, Kuwait, that the State of Kuwait would provide 5 million barrels of oil (equivalent to
approximately 80 thousand kilo liters, approximately JPY 40 billion) for free as assistance for the affected
people of the GEJET. This donation was the largest amount received from a single country.
The METI decided that it would be appropriate for the JRCS, who had a good track record in the support of the
affected people of disasters both in Japan and abroad, to utilize the money equivalent to the oil donated in
order to implement effective projects for the affected people and asked the JRCS to implement the assistance
programmes for the affected people of this disaster.
The Director-General, Trade Policy Bureau of the METI asked the President of the JRCS for the implementation of
recovery assistance programmes for the affected areas, and the JRCS replied, under the name of the President, to
the Director-General, Trade Policy Bureau that the JRCS would willingly implement the projects requested.
Subsequently, the JRCS had repeated consultations with the METI and other relevant organisations and decided
that the targets of support should be the three Prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima that suffered an
extremely large damage among the affected 15 Prefectures in this disaster.
The flow of the assistance from Kuwait was as follows.
1. Kuwait Government provided for free 5 million barrels of crude oil through the Japanese Government.
2. Oil wholesale companies in Japan received this crude oil and transferred the amount equivalent to the price
to the JRCS.
3. The JRCS gained agreement with the METI and implemented support projects for the disaster affected people
in the Prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima (transfer of donation from overseas to each affected
prefecture).
4. Each of these prefectures received the recovery the donation from the JRCS as funds that can be spent down
and allocated them to the assistance programmes for the affected people implemented according to the priority,
emergency level and actual situation of each affected area.
The President of the JRCS notified the Governors of the three Prefectures to be supported of the implementation of recovery assistance programmes and received answers of acceptance from all of the three Prefectures.
(2) Project team
On August 1, 2011, a project team for responding to this matter was assembled (a total of 4 members) inside the
JRCS National Headquarters.
(3) Organisation of a presentation ceremony
On October 12, 2011, the first delivery of crude oil sent from Kuwait arrived in Japan and a presentation ceremony hosted by the METI was held. The JRCS President Mr. Konoe, the METI Minister Mr. Edano, the JX Nippon Mining and Metals President Mr. Kimura (Vice-President of the Petroleum Association of Japan), the representatives of each of the affected three prefectures, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation CEO Mr. Al-Zanki, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Kuwait to Japan Mr. Al-Otaibi attended the ceremony.
After the ceremony, a reception was held with the participation of the former Prime Minister Mr. Hatoyama, Diet members and other relevant parties in addition to those who attended the ceremony. The JRCS President made a speech stating that the JRCS would try hard to give assistance for rebuilding the lives of the affected people in cooperation with the three prefectures.
(4) Framework of the support
The JRCS gave assistance for the recovery projects implemented by the local governments for the affected people,
utilizing as capital funds the amount equivalent to the crude oil provided for free by Kuwait.
The intention of Kuwait was that “the Kuwait Government thinks it the first priority to give assistance to the
people who are still forced to live a hard life in the affected areas, and asks the JRCS to implement effective
projects”, thus the specification of the form of the projects was left to the discretion of the JRCS.
In September 2011, the JRCS visited the three prefectures. The JRCS also consulted in advance with the METI and the Kuwait Government, and after having determined the framework of its recovery assistance programmes, concluded it appropriate to leave the implementation of specific projects to the discretion of each local government who understood well about the actual situation of the affected areas, and decided to allocate the funds received by the JRCS to each of the three prefectures.
Scene at the presentation ceremony. (c)JRCS
Figure 6-1 Framework of the support from Kuwait
As the scope of these projects was set up to be broad, the projects could be available for a variety of support programmes for the affected people.
1. Project for recovering the community infrastructure
2. Project for medical support
3. Project for welfare and nursing support
4. Project for education support
5. Project for support for agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
6. Project for support for small and medium-sized business
7. Project for employment support
8. Project for support for the victims of the nuclear power plant accident
Regarding the details of the recovery projects, the summary of the master plan was sent to each Prefecture from the JRCS.
2. Allocation of the funds
(1) Total amount of recovery support funds and amount allocate to the three affected
prefectures
The amount equivalent to the price of the crude oil donated was transferred to the JRCS from oil wholesale
companies in 7 installments, and the last transfer was completed on November 22, 2011.
The amount of recovery support funds was approximately 524 million US dollars in total, which was equivalent of
approximately JPY 40 billion.
Total amount of funds for recovery support:
JPY 40,066,027,141 (equivalent to 524,008,400 US dollars)
The allocation of the funds to the target three prefectures was determined in consideration of the specificity of the nuclear disaster in addition to the scale of the damage and the impartiality of distribution. The amount allocated to each of the three prefectures were approximately JPY 8.4 billion to Iwate, JPY 16.2 billion to Miyagi, and JPY 15.4 billion to Fukushima.
| IWATE | MIYAGI | FUKUSHIMA | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allocation the response to the nuclear power plant accident | - | - | 3,000,000,000 | 3,000,000,000 |
| Equal allocation | 6,177,671,190 | 6,177,671,190 | 6,177,671,190 | 18,533,013,570 |
| Proportional allocation (based on the index for the secondary allocation of Cash Grants) | 2,223,961,629 (12%) |
10,007,827,328 (54%) |
6,301,224,614 (34%) |
18,533,013,571 (100%) |
| Total | 8,401,632,819 | 16,185,498,518 | 15,478,895,804 | 40,066,027,141 |
(2) Establishment of the Third-Party Committee (coordination with the Chapters of the three
prefectures)
In the three affected prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, a special fund was established to ensure the
transparency of the fund management. The cash funds from the JRCS was received at this fund and were allocated
to the projects to support the affected people.
While the JRCS had entrusted each local government who understood well about the actual situation of the affected
areas to implement the projects, it established the Third-Party Committee including a third party in each
Chapter of the Prefectures, considering the importance of having a mechanism where the opinions of a third party
could be reflected in the planning and outcomes of the projects in order to facilitate more appropriate and
effective implementation of the recovery assistance programme.
With the start of the Committee in the Fukushima Chapter in February 2012, the three affected prefectures
launched the recovery projects in light of the advice from the Committee.
(3) Transfer of the funds to the three affected prefectures
On January 6, 2012, the JRCS transferred all the recovery support funds to the target prefectures following the
establishment of the special fund in each prefecture for receiving the recovery support funds and the completion
of the procedures for the supplementary budget at each prefectural assembly.
(4) Main projects in the three prefectures
Projects using the funds were categorized in eight fields: "Regional infrastructure reconstruction", "Medical
support", "Welfare and nursing care support", "Educational support", "Support for Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries", "Support for small and medium sized enterprises (SME)", "Employment support", and "Support for
victims of the nuclear accident". The main projects in the three disaster-affected prefectures are as follows.
| Iwate Prefecture | Recovering the community infrastructure | Construction of Sanriku Railway vehicles, stations, etc. |
|---|---|---|
| Support for education | Restoration of private schools, restoration of local performing arts, etc. | |
| Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | Subsidies for the recovery of salmon and trout resources, etc. | |
| Support for small and medium-sized business, SMEs | Support for early recovery of SMEs, etc. | |
| Miyagi Prefecture | Recovering the community infrastructure | Subsidies for maintenance costs of temporary housing, etc. |
| Support for health | Funding for the Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University School of Medicine Scholarship Fund | |
| Support for fisheries | Support for restoration of aquaculture facilities and securing of seeds for aquaculture, etc. | |
| Support for SMEs | Subsidies for the rehabilitation of facilities and equipment of small and medium sized manufacturer and merchants | |
| Fukushima Prefecture | Recovering the community infrastructure | Subsidies for maintenance costs of temporary housing, etc. |
| Project for Reconstruction and Redevelopment of J-Venue | ||
| Subsidies for the protection and repair of cultural properties | ||
| Support for education | Efforts to improve students' sense of belonging and sense of belonging to satellite schools | |
| Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | Promotion of the regeneration of fishing areas, improvement of fishing equipment, etc. | |
| Support for SMEs | Subsidies for the restoration of facilities and equipment of SMEs, etc. |
(4) Implementation status of the recovery support funds
Based on the reports from the three prefectures as of March 31, 2020, the implementation status of the recovery
support funds from FY2011 to FY2019 is shown below.
Implementation status of the recovery support funds as of 31 March 2020 (the end of the fiscal year 2019)
| IWATE | MIYAGI | FUKUSHIMA | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allocation of funds for recovery support | 8,401,632,819 | 16,185,498,518 | 15,478,895,804 | 40,066,027,141 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2011 | 29,632,000 | 0 | 604,491,911 | 634,123,911 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2012 | 1,975,573,000 | 1,777,557,000 | 1,518,523,426 | 5,271,653,426 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2013 | 2,393,002,000 | 2,474,763,000 | 3,617,637,097 | 8,485,402,097 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2014 | 1,254,751,000 | 1,719,568,000 | 2,191,968,665 | 5,166,287,665 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2015 | 1,092,869,000 | 2,301,297,000 | 1,368,447,441 | 4,762,613,441 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2016 | 1,050,995,000 | 1,623,679,000 | 523,210,792 | 3,197,884,792 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2017 | 604,810,819 | 1,851,610,000 | 1,570,749,363 | 4,027,170,182 |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2018 | 1,616,559,000 | 1,691,712,381 | 3,308,271,381 | |
| Amount of implementation in FY 2019 | 1,642,101,000 | 829,502,850 | 2,471,603,850 | |
| Accumulated total amount of implementation | 8,401,632,819 (100%) |
15,007,134,000 (92.7%) |
13,916,243,926 (89.9%) |
37,325,010,745 (93.2%) |
| Balance payable | 0 (0.0 %) |
1,178,364,518 (7.3%) |
1,562,651,878 (10.1%) |
2,741,016,396 (6.8%) |
For implementing the projects, the JRCS’s supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2011 was discussed and approved in December 2011.
Supplementary budget for the budget of the JRCS’s general account in FY 2011
Amount of the supplementary budget: JPY 40,066,028,000
(both in revenues and in expenditures)
For Recovery assistance programmes for the GEJET
As of 31 March 2020, 93.2 percent of the funds were spent.
Each prefecture should submit a report on the implementation status of the projects to the JRCS every half year,
and the JRCS should compile these reports and submit its report to the METI.
In light of the characteristics of the funds that should be used for the recovery support, it was desirable that
the projects to support the affected people should be implemented as soon as possible, however, some projects
might require a certain amount of time from the start till the end. The JRCS assumed that the period required
for a project would be generally 3 years at longest. On the other hand, it showed its flexibility that some
projects would take more than 3 years to complete because of their nature.
3. Activities of the projects
The details of the major projects in the three Prefectures were as follows:
1. Overview of Iwate Prefecture
JPY 8,401,632,819 was allocated to Iwate Prefecture. Iwate Prefecture has used the funds for four areas: 1.
Recovering the community infrastructure; 4. Support for Education; 5. Support for Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries; and 6. Support for Small and Medium-sized Business, SMEs. All projects were completed by the end of
FY 2017.
| Programme/Project | Fiscal Year of implementation | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recovering the community infrastructure | |
| (1) Development of railway vehicles and station building of the Sanriku Railway, etc. | 2012-2016 | |
| (2) Livelihood support services for the affected | 2012-2017 | |
| (3) Promotion to introduce renewable energy sources | 2013-2017 | |
| 4 | Support for education | |
| (1) Restoration of private schools, etc. | 2011-2014 | |
| (2) Renaissance of local performing arts, etc. | 2012-2016 | |
| 5 | Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | |
| (1) Subsidy for recovering salmon and trout resources, etc. | 2012 | |
| 6 | Support for Small and Medium-sized Business | |
| (1) Support for the early recovery of small and medium-sized companies, etc. | 2012-2017 |
1. Recovering the community infrastructure
(1) Development of railway vehicles and station building of the Sanriku Railway, etc. (FY2012-2016)
Sanriku Railway’s Minami-Riasu Line was fully restored to service in Iwate, April 2014.
Recovery Project supported the cost for reconstructing stations, etc. to establish a "new Sanriku Railway" as a symbol and a detonator for vitalization of the Sanriku Railway. (c) JRCS
11 train cars were purchased and the buildings in 19 stations of the Minami-Riasu Line and Kita-Riasu Line were constructed.
(2) Livelihood support services for the affected (FY2012-2017)
Livelihood support services were provided to 8,310 households
(3) Promotion to introduce renewable energy sources (FY2013-2017)
Solar power system installed house (c)JRCS
2,577 houses were supported in installation of solar power systems.
4. Support for education
(1) Restoration of private schools, etc. (FY2011-2014)
Kindergarten rehabilitated (c)JRCS
28 kindergartens, 1 junior high school, 8 high schools and 4 vocational schools were rehabilitated.
5. Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
(1) Subsidy for recovering salmon and trout resources, etc.
Approximately 300 million of juvenile salmons and 200,000 of fingerlings of cherry salmons were purchased and released.
6. Support for Small and Medium-sized Business
(1) Support for the early recovery of small and medium-sized companies, etc.
Approximately 300 stores and warehouses were reconstructed.
2. Overview of Miyagi Prefecture
JPY 16,185,498,518 was allocated to Miyagi Prefecture. Miyagi Prefecture has used the funds for: 1. Recovering the community infrastructure, 2. Support for health, 5. Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and 6. Support for SMEs. The unexecuted portion is also scheduled to be executed based on the Reconstruction Plan of Miyagi Prefecture, and is expected to be executed smoothly with the acceleration of reconstruction.
| Programme/Project | Fiscal Year of implementation | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recovering the community infrastructure | |
| (1) Subsidy for the maintenance and management of temporary housings, etc. | 2012-2019 | |
| (2) Subsidy to the reconstruction of the affected houses | 2012-2017 | |
| 2 | Support for health (medical) | |
| (1) Medicine scholastic funds of Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University “Kuwait Partnership Fund for Medical Education” | 2015- | |
| 5 | Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | |
| (1) Subsidy for recovering aquaculture facilities, securing fishery seeds, etc. | 2012 | |
| 6 | Support for small and medium-sized business | |
| (1) Subsidy to support restoration of facilities and equipment of the small and medium-sized enterprises | 2013-2014 | |
| (2) Subsidy to resuming commerce functions | 2012-2014 | |
| (3) Subsidy to location and reconstruction of tourism facilities | 2012-2014 | |
| (4) Subsidy for interest of loans paid by the affected small and medium-sized enterprises | 2012-2017 |
1. Recovering the community infrastructure
(1) Subsidy for the maintenance and management of temporary housings, etc. (2012-2019)
Common service fee of 105,818 households, statutory inspections fee of 2,803 combined septic tanks, and transference fee of 511 housings from emergency temporary housings were supported.
(2) Subsidy to the reconstruction of the affected houses (FY2012-2017)
668 cases were supported.
2. Support for health (medical)
(1) Medicine scholastic funds of Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University “Kuwait Partnership Fund for Medical Education”（FY2015-）
Commemoration ceremony of foundation of Tohoku Community Medicine Assistance Scholastic Fund
Investment in the Tohoku region medical support organisation to manage the scholastic funds (New loans user: 30 people). The total amount of investment: 9 billion yen in six-year installments.
5. Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
(1) Subsidy for recovering aquaculture facilities, securing fishery seeds, etc. (FY2012)
1,374 cases were supported.
6. Support for small and medium-sized business
(1) Subsidy to support restoration of facilities and equipment of the small and medium-sized enterprises (FY2013-2014)
113 cases were supported.
(2) Subsidy to resuming commerce functions (FY2012-2014)
1168 cases were supported.
(3) Subsidy to location and reconstruction of tourism facilities (FY2012-2014)
Restored Ootakamori Pier(c) JRCS
95 cases were supported.
(4) Subsidy for interest of loans paid by the affected small and medium-sized enterprises (FY2014-2017)
Restored restaurant(c) JRCS
21,146 cases were supported.
3. Overview of Fukushima Prefecture
JPY 15,478,895,804 was allocated to Fukushima Prefecture. Fukushima Prefecture has used the funds to: 1.
Recovering the community infrastructure; 2. Support for health; 3. Welfare and Nursing care support; 4. Support
for Education; 5. Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; 6. Support for SMEs; and 8. Support for
victims of the nuclear accident.
In Fukushima Prefecture, due to the impact of the nuclear power plant accident, evacuation zones have still been
established, and it is still difficult to draw an overall picture of the reconstruction plan for the prefecture.
| Programme/Project | Fiscal Year of implementation | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recovering the community infrastructure | |
| (1) Maintenance of emergency temporary housing | 2011-2012 | |
| (2) "Satoyama-Iki-Iki" strategy (Revitalization of communities) | 2013-2015 | |
| (3) Rehabilitation of J-Village (a complex of sports) | 2016-2019 | |
| (4) Subsidy to maintaining the local bus services for the daily use | 2012 | |
| (5) Reconstruction of historical facilities and improvement of their attractiveness | 2012 | |
| (6) Subsidy to double mortgage interest | 2011- | |
| (7) Scheme to preserve and revitalize designated cultural properties | 2011-2013 | |
| (8) Support for accelerating town rehabilitation | 2016-2017 | |
| (9) Maintenance and servicing of a crime preventive environment guaranteeing the security of repatriated residents | 2019 | |
| 2 | Support for health (medical) | |
| (1) Pneumococcal vaccination for elderly | 2011 | |
| 3 | Support for social welfare and caring | |
| (1) Strengthening recruitment system of social welfare workers | 2016-2019 | |
| 4 | Support for education | |
| (1) Support to the “Satellite Schools” | 2013- | |
| (2) Establishment of an unified lower and an upper secondary school in Futaba Town (FY2019) | 2019 | |
| 5 | Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | |
| (1) Support to evacuated farming households in their provisional employment in the agriculture | 2012-2016 | |
| (2) Support to resuming the local fisheries | 2012,2014 | |
| 6 | Support for small and medium-sized business | |
| (1) Support for the restoration and reconstruction of small and medium-sized enterprises | 2012 | |
| (2) Scheme to promote utilization of disaster-related financing programme | 2012-2015 | |
| (3) Scheme to support the strengthening of the function of the local commerce and industry associations in the evacuation areas | 2014-2018 | |
| 8 | Support for victims of the nuclear accident | |
| (1) “Challenge Fukushima” Strategic Information Dissemination project (FY2015-16,2019) | 2015-16,2019 | |
| (2) Fukushima rugby exchange project | 2019 |
1. Recovering the community infrastructure
(1) Maintenance of emergency temporary housing (FY2011-2012)
This project covered the cost for repair and maintenance of temporary housings such as fire insurance, etc.
(2) "Satoyama-Iki-Iki" strategy (Revitalization of communities) (FY2013-2015)
This project covered implement human resource development, revitalization of communities and demonstration experiment of new business model.
(3) Rehabilitation of J-Village (a complex of sports) (FY2016-2019)
This project covered rehabilitation of facilities and PR activities toward partial reopening in the summer of 2018 and full resumption in April 2019.
Panoramic photograph of J-Village (c)JRCS
Indoor ground in J-Village (c)JRCS
J-Village railway station established in 2019(c)JRCS
(4) Subsidy to maintaining the local bus services for the daily use (FY2012)
This project covered purchase of buses on regular routes (bus routes connecting multiple cities, towns, and villages). 9 buses were purchased
(5) Reconstruction of historical facilities and improvement of their attractiveness (FY2012)
This project covered reconstruction and rehabilitation of historical facilities. 96 facilities were rehabilitated.
(6) Subsidy to double mortgage interest (FY2011-)
This project covered the fund equivalent to the interest for already existing debts for abandoned houses in order to restore new lives through construction/purchase of new homes. Subsidies were granted to 164 affected individuals.
(7) Scheme to preserve and revitalize designated cultural properties (FY2011-2013)
This project overed the repair cost of nationally and prefecturally designated cultural properties damaged by the disaster. Subsidies to 18 nationally designated cultural property and 21 prefecturally-designated cultural properties.
(8) Support for accelerating town rehabilitation (FY 2016-2017)
This project supported commercial function recovery promotion in the areas where the evacuation order was lifted (subsidy for expenditure for operating public commercial facilities) and dispatching experts of town development.
(9) Maintenance and servicing of a crime preventive environment guaranteeing the security of repatriated residents (FY2019)
This project overed 600 sets of security cameras and sensor lights have been purchased and 277 sets have been installed.
2. Support for health (medical)
(1) Pneumococcal vaccination for elderly (FY2011)
This project supported 59, 474 elderly aged 65 or over were subsidized for the cost of pneumococcal vaccination.
3. Support for social welfare and caring
(1) Strengthening recruitment system of social welfare workers (FY 2016-2019)
This project strengthened of trainings in facilities, recruitment, and re-employment of qualified persons, etc. to secure care staff who left after the earthquake.
4. Support for education
(1) Support to the “Satellite Schools” (FY2013-)
This project supported to conduct plan of academic development/ career education including the project for the employment assistance and enriching students' sense of belonging to schools and of unity and cooperating.
Gathering of the Tomioka High School students
【Satellite schools: As the location of Tomioka High School was designated as part of the restricted areas associated with the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant, the students are not allowed to enter the school. For this reason, 4 satellite schools were established Inside and outside of Fukushima to accommodate them in replacement of their original school】
(2) Establishment of a unified lower and an upper secondary school in Futaba Town (FY2019)
This project supported education system study council for Futaba Future School’s educational continuity from Lower-through Upper-secondary Education was held.
5. Support for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
(1) Support to evacuated farming households in their provisional employment in the agriculture (FY2012-2016)
This project facilitated procurement of agricultural land and resuming the provisional agricultural managements at the places of refuges. 67 management bodies were provided the assistance.
(2) Support to resuming the local fisheries (FY2012,2014)
This project established the voluntary radioactive material inspection system by fishery associations and procurement of fishing equipment necessary for starting a new fishing method. Subsidies to procure 39 sets of fishing equipment were provided.
Support to implementers conducting recovery of fishery (prefecture
project)
【Support for cultivation and securement of fishery implementers and for plans of actions leading to
improvement of added value of fishery products.】
6. Support for small and medium-sized business
(1) Support for the restoration and reconstruction of small and medium-sized enterprises (FY2012)
This project provided partial support to cover the necessary costs for renting and fixing damaged buildings of small and medium-sized enterprises.
(2) Scheme to promote utilization of disaster-related financing program (FY2012-2015)
This programme provided financial support to cover a part of guarantee fee, loan interests and compensation for losses related to the "Fukushima Recovery Special Fund" and the "Special Fund for the Earthquake".
(3) Scheme to support the strengthening of the function of the local commerce and industry associations in the evacuation areas (FY2014-2018)
This project supported to restore and strengthen the function of local commerce and industry associations in evacuation areas from both the hardware and software aspects.
8. Support for victims of the nuclear accident
(1) “Challenge Fukushima” Strategic Information Dissemination project (FY2015-16,2019)
This project supported overseas PR project on Fukushima reconstruction, information dissemination projects and Fukuhara kizuna network project.
(2) Fukushima rugby exchange project
This project supported to conduct tag rugby classes at 23 elementary schools with 1,045 participants in Fukushima from September 2019 to January 2020.
