 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
 April 25, 2007
Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.
Mayor of Atlanta, U.S.A. visits Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. Head Office in Tokyo
- Exchange of Views with President Okubo of Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. on the Problem of Aging Sewage Systems -
Ms. Shirley Franklin, Mayor of the City of Atlanta in the state of Georgia, U.S.A. visited Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd., President Naotake Okubo in the Tokyo head office in Toranomon, Minato-ku, on April 25.
Mayor Franklin places such importance on sewage-system-related environmental problems that she refers to herself as "the Sewage-system Mayor." Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. focuses on water-environment solutions. Mayor Franklin and President Okubo exchanged views on the problem of aging sewage systems. The background to Mayor Franklin's visit is outlined below.
Background to Mayor Franklin's Visit
In the U.S.A., problems such as collapse and subsidence of road, water leakage and the spread of malodors caused by the aging and deterioration of sewage pipes have become a serious social issue and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued orders for improvement to twenty cities and regions across America. In line with these orders, Mayor Franklin was appointed mayor of the City of Atlanta in 2002 with the improvement of sewage systems as her foresighted election pledge. Meanwhile, Japan has also experienced an increase in the incidence of road subsidence in recent years due both to the aging and deterioration of sewage pipes and rapid increases in volumes of traffic, with incidents of subsidence reported in 6,600 locations in FY2005, making this a major problem. Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. has established global water-environment solutions as a major element of its business policy and, as a link in this process, has been developing sewage rehabilitation pipe business since 1986, promoting the dissemination of SPR methods in the U.S.A. starting with Los Angeles in 2004. In 2005, Sekisui Chemical established Sekisui SPR Americas, LLC., a sewage rehabilitation pipe company, in Atlanta, Georgia and Mayor Franklin showed a deep interest in the SPR method, marking the beginning of the relationship between Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. and the City of Atlanta. In July of last year, Mayor Franklin and President Okubo held discussions in Atlanta and agreed to continue negotiating on the possibility of mutual future cooperation regarding the problem of aging sewage systems in Atlanta. Against this background, Mayor Franklin has taken advantage of her current visit to Japan to call in on Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.
Undertakings with the City of Atlanta
Sekisui SPR Americas, LLC, a subsidiary of Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd., has proposed an SIT (Self Installation Training) program to the City of Atlanta. This program will provide training in pipe rehabilitation technology for municipal workers to enable the city to develop its own centralized administration of the maintenance, management and rehabilitation of sewage pipes, thereby reducing construction costs and achieving improvements in the sewage-system environment. At the present time, the demonstration stage has been completed and the next step is to move onto practical application of the program. [Reference]
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
