Kobe Airport (神戸空港) is a domestic airport currently under construction on an artificial island just off the coast of Kobe, Japan. The airport will have one 2500-meter runway and is scheduled for completion in April 2005.
The project has been extremely controversial, since the estimated pricetag is over 1 trillion yen (US $8.7 billion), and the Kobe municipality is already the worst-indebted in the country with outstanding debts of over ¥3 trillion. The airport will face stiff competition from nearby Osaka International Airport and Kansai International Airport, the latter of which is already suffering from overcapacity and hemorrhaging money. A citizen group gathered over 300,000 signatures (in a city of 1.1 million) to stop the project, but to no avail.
External links (in Japanese)