Prime Minister Noda has confirmed that the government has suspended the construction of a 10.5 billion Yen (136 million Yen) lodging house for government workers in Asaka City, Saitama Prefecture. The government will pay the contractors 4 billion Yen (52 million USD) as compensation for the halt in construction. Construction began on September 1st, 2011, and was scheduled to be complete by June, 2013. The work is expected to be suspended for the next 5 years before resuming in 2016.
The site was the location of the former US Military Asaka Base. The plans were to build a two 13-storey residential buildings with a total of 850 apartments. The construction company was Obayashi Corporation.