Komatsu to Offer Full Support to Disposal of Anti-personnel Landmines and Reconstruction of Local Communities

Komatsu Ltd. (President and CEO: Kunio Noji) and Japan Mine Action Service (JMAS) (President: Mitsuo Nonaka), a nonprofit organization of Japan, signed an agreement on January 15, 2008 to jointly demine anti-personnel landmines in the contaminated regions and reconstruct local communities after demining.
Since 2003, as part of its social contribution activities and with the Japanese government's support, Komatsu has developed and tested demining machines for anti-personnel landmines in Cambodia and Afghanistan as well as provided technical trainings to staff members of local non-governmental organizations. A Komatsu demining machine has been deployed by a local NGO in Afghanistan since September 2007.
JMAS is a nonprofit organization staffed mainly by retired people of Japan's Defense Agency with a wealth of technical expertise and experiences. Since 2002, JMAS has engaged in clearing landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) as well as digging wells and providing educational programs. Its aggressive efforts also include provision of technical personnel in cooperation with the governments of Cambodia, Laos and Afghanistan.

Komatsu believes that when we combine our demining machine technologies and JMAS' experiences and know-how, the two should be able to enable faster reconstruction of devasted local communities and thus make very effective social contributions.

Based on this agreement, the first reconstruction project for local communities is planned for launching in Battambang, Cambodia in May 2008. Specific plans for this project call for our demining equipment to be rented at no cost to JMAS for speedy demining, and then, the safe development of agricultural land, digging of wells, building of schools, and repair and building of roadways and bridges. In addition to lending the demining machine and construction equipment for use in building such infrastructure, all at no cost, Komatsu is going to pay the operating expenses of ¥50 million and transportation cost to Cambodia. Komatsu will also supply replacement parts at no cost. For the next project, Komatsu is considering a reconstruction project in Africa.

Komatsu positions community reconstruction which begins with demining as one of its core activities of social contribution. In addition to continuing this activity, Komatsu hopes to expand its efforts to other areas by collaborating with other companies, NGOs, governments, international organizations and local people.

A massive amount of anti-personnel landmines has been placed in the ground, as military conflicts have developed around the world. Many of them have remained underground, keeping their explosive capacity in tact, almost permanently, even after the conflicts have ended. This has caused the injuring of about 20,000 (estimated) adult citizens and children every year. Because manual detection and demining require unaccountable hours of nerve-wrecking labor, the progress of demining has been very slow. As a result, landmines still in the ground not only threaten safety of local residents but are also a major obstacle for community development.

Back in 1998 Komatsu began development of machines to remove shrub, the work needed before demining. In 2002, the Japanese government approved exports of demining machines for anti-personnel landmines, and in 2002 Komatsu applied for the public offering of subsidies of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and embarked on full-scale development of demining machines.
In December 2003, we completed the production of our prototype. After thorough performance tests in Afghanistan in 2004, we delivered our first demining machine to the local NGO in Afghanistan based on Japan's ODA donation. The machine has been in use since September 2007.
Our demining machine is capable of demining 500 square meters of land on average per hour, demonstrating an outstanding improvement of work efficiency over manual demining. Since this machine is based on our bulldozer, it is possible to replace the mine-igniting attachment on the front with different attachments for land clearing, road construction and other tasks after demining.

Name: Japan Mine Action Service, a nonprofit organization
Representative: Mr. Mitsuo Nonaka, President
Address: Emuzu Bldg., 5th floor, 3-18 Ichigayahonmuracho, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Overseas offices: Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Vientiane, Laos, and Kabul, Afghanistan
Established: June 2002
Membership: About 600 full members and 1,500 supporting members
Corporate membership:55 companies
Cleared: 690,000 square meters of demined area and 126,000 UXOs

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