May 18, 2015
On the 18th, the City of Wakayama in conjunction with
Nankai Electric Railway Company, announced a plan to revitalize Nankai’s
Wakayama-shi Station which is located within Wakayama City. In addition to rebuilding
the deteriorating station facilities, they will add a public library and
establish a place for businesses and shops. The area in front of the station is
included in plans for development, and it is being promoted as a bustling
location for the Prefecture’s capital city. Wakayama Prefecture Mayor Yoshinobu
Nisaka commented that he highly expects it will be a jumping off point for
redevelopment in the area.
On that day, the Mayor of Wakayama City Mr. Obana Masahiro and
president of Nankai Electric Railway Company Mr. Wataru Shinni held a joint
press conference at city hall to explain their plan. The numbers of passengers departing
and arriving on trains has declined by one third from its peak, and the
Wakayama City branch of the chain department store Takashimaya – once located
within the station building – closed last summer. Such factors led the
prefecture, city, and Nankai Electric Railway Company to hasten dialogue about
how to make the surrounding area prosperous once again.
According to the plan, the new station facilities (2-story
with some steel frame structure and increased floor space of about 830
square meters) are being built behind the existing structure. Office space
(7-story steel frame structure with floor space of about 6,000 square meters)
is being newly built in the neighboring parking lot of the old station
building. The office building will be available for loan to tenants.
These two facilities will enter the first phase of
construction in mid-May with expected completion in the spring of 2017. After
that, the second phase of construction will see the demolition of the old
station building and a public library as well as space for shops will be built.
The library will be a 4-story steel frame building with
space of over 6,000 square meters. The first floor parking garage will have
space for about 30 vehicles and the second floor will have a space for parking
roughly 800 bicycles. In a movement to increase walking in the area, a corner
for local authors and documents as well as a tourist information area are in
the works. It is also reported that they want to loan bicycles as well.
Mayor Obana said, “Around the station there is relation to
Minakata Kumagusa and Saiki Ikki… it’s a great place for walking around. I want
to make a prominent library in order to restore life to this area.” In addition
to the foundation of the library being made resistant to earthquakes, it is
currently being examined whether or not it can be used for lifelong learning
activities as well.
The budget for the first phase of construction is roughly 40
million yen. Within the second phase of construction, the library is expected
to have a budget of about 29 million yen. It is expected that aid
will be received from the Japanese government to cover part of the construction costs.
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