■ Community Initiative for Maintenance and Repair Activities ~Tokushima River Environment Building Project~

There are also examples of infrastructure maintenance and repair being done through the efforts of a community group. In Tokushima, as part of an initiative called ‘River Environment Building Project for the Region by its Residents,’ they started the ‘River Environment Building Project’ in June 2011, which is had grown out of the previously adopted project $ ^{Note\ 53} $ . The ‘River Environment Building Project’—with its philosophy of “build the enjoyable river environment we want by our own efforts”—has the residents of the region developing simple facilities and doing maintenance and management work themselves in the areas along the river which is managed by the Tokushima prefecture.

Thanks to the efforts of this ‘River Environment Building Project,’ in July 2012, the specified non-profit corporation ‘Protect the Shinmachi River Group’ got the restoration work done from the Shinmachi Bridge to the area near the Jinshin Bridge, which was approximately 500 meters on the left bank. The ‘River Environment Building Project’ is the

Figure 2-2-34

Hyōtanjima Bluestone Bank Protection Repair Work

Source) Tokushima Prefecture

first project in which revetment mending is being done by local residents. They collected and washed blue stones that had fallen off, and approximately 100 stones have been put back in place. During the one month project period, there was a day where about 30 children and members of an NPO, the prefectural governor Kamon Iizumi, and around 20 prefectural government employees came and participated in placing 30 stones along a 50 meter section near the Shinmachi Bridge. If this kind of patching work was done as a construction project, it would cost around JPY1.1 million. However, the prefecture only had to pay for providing the materials such as mortar for setting the stones, reducing the total project cost to about JPY20,000 $ ^{Note\ 54} $ .

Furthermore, on January 24, 2014, the specified non-profit corporation ‘Protect the Shinmachi River Group’ became the first organization in the nation to be given the designation of being a ‘River Alliance Organization,’ based on the ‘River Alliance Organization System’ which was created according to the “Law to Amend a Part of the Flood Protection Laws and the River Laws” (2013 Law No.35) to support community group activities related to voluntary river maintenance and river environment conservation.

Figure 2-2-35 Breakdown of the River Cooperative Body System

Spontaneous river maintenance and the like, etc.

Source) MLIT

Corporations, etc., recognized as having the capacity to act appropriately and reliably as River Cooperative Body are eligible to apply for the river administrator. River administrator will then select a cooperation as River Cooperative Body after due evaluation.

River Cooperative Body will execute operations like the following.

River conservation or maintenance work in cooperation with river administrator

Collection and provision of information and sources pertinent to river management

Conduct research and studies for river management

Diffusion of knowledge and education regarding river management

Ancillary activities associated with 1 to 4 above.