TOKYO: Yoichi Miyamoto, head of the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors, said Friday that he is unsure whether foreign pavilions for the 2025 World Exposition in the western city of Osaka can be built in time.

“At this point, I don’t know whether they will be completed in time (for the Expo’s opening) or not,” Miyamoto, also chairman of general contractor Shimizu Corp., told a press conference regarding the delayed construction of pavilions for foreign countries participating in the Osaka Expo.

“We hope that orders with highly accurate design drawings and specifications, budgets and construction schedules will be submitted as soon as possible,” he said.

The organizer of the event, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, has proposed that participating countries use prefabricated pavilions put up by the Japanese side, to reduce the burdens that come with self-built pavilions and shorten construction periods.

Using this method, in which countries only have to create the interiors and exteriors of buildings, will allow pavilions “to be completed in time, generally speaking,” Miyamoto said.

“As a Japanese, I want (construction) to be done in time,” Miyamoto said, expressing his industry’s readiness to cooperate, after Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio said that the government will lead efforts to open the Osaka Expo as scheduled.

JIJI Press