*

Residents concerned GLP project will 'ruin' Akishima

*

Worries include pollution, drain on water and power supply

By Mariko Katsumura

TOKYO, July 10 (Reuters) - A group of residents in Tokyo

said on Wednesday they were aiming to block construction of a

massive logistics and data centre planned by Singaporean

developer GLP, in a worrying sign for businesses looking to

Japan to meet growing demand.

The petition by more than 220 residents of Akishima city in

western Tokyo follows a successful bid in December in Nagareyama

city to quash a similar data-centre plan.

The Akishima residents were concerned the centre would

threaten wildlife, cause pollution and a spike in electricity

usage, and drain its water supply which comes solely from

groundwater.

They filed a petition to audit the urban planning procedure

that approved GLP's 3.63-million-megawatt data centre, which GLP

estimated would likely emit about 1.8 million tons of carbon

dioxide a year.

"One company will be responsible for ruining Akishima.

That's what this development is," Yuji Ohtake, a representative

of the residents' group, told a press conference.

Global tech firms such as Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN )

and Oracle also have plans to build data

centres in Japan.

The residents estimated that 3,000 of 4,800 trees on the

site would have to be cut down, threatening the area's Eurasian

goshawk birds and badgers.

"It's an unbelievably negligent plan," said representative

Hiroyuki Hasegawa.

The group was considering filing for arbitration to steer

GLP towards reconsidering its plan, in which it is set to

commence building in February, with completion by early 2029.

GLP declined to comment on the residents' action.

Japan's data centre market is expected to grow 10.8% in 2027

and 7.6% in 2028 amid demand from digital transformation and

cloud services, according to real estate services firm Jones

Lang Lasalle.

In 2023, Japan saw a record 112 billion yen ($694 million)

direct investment into data centre real estate, JLL's data

showed.

Local opposition has also been growing over the construction

of a data centre in Kashiwa city near Tokyo.

($1 = 161.3600 yen)