OSAKA -- Osaka Deputy Mayor Junichi Seki apologized Monday for using PCB-laden soil in the construction of Yumeshima Island in Osaka Bay, where the city plans to build an athlete's village for the 2008 Olympics.
Municipal environmental officials said Monday that they will conduct an additional survey of the surrounding bay area. The survey is expected to be completed within the next few months.
The apology and agreement to suspend construction of the island came several days after Osaka admitted that it had spread soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyl on a nearly 200,000-sq.-meter portion of the artificial island in violation of environmental regulations.
Soil samples taken by the city revealed PCB levels of up to six times the allowable amount under Environment Agency guidelines.
In 1990, the municipal government received permission from the central government to reclaim land for Yumeshima. Environmental regulations required that the city lay plastic sheeting beneath the soil in order to prevent any tainted water from leaking into the sea.
However, Osaka officials, for reasons they have not yet explained, did not use the plastic sheeting and, according to environmental officials, this resulted in PCB contamination of the sea around Yumeshima.