Social development has played an important role as well as economic development since 1990s. In ODA, donors have increased community development projects to facilitate social development. These projects adopt participatory approach and focus on empowerment of the stakeholders. Community development projects are composed of sub projects of several sectors and infrastructure sector is the most important and largest component. Donors conduct evaluations of the implemented projects, however, the empowerment emerging differences by sector and practice method still are not clear. This study, using JICA’s community development projects, found the differences produced by the differences of sectors and practical methods. The factors of these differences also were clarified. In addition, this study found the advantage of infrastructure sector against other sectors for empowerment.

 Since assumed maximum scale flood hazard information was regulated by the amendment of Flood Control Act in 2015, public announcements of the information of each river have been promoted. This study researched the effect of this new information in Ise city in Mie prefecture. We analyzed individual and area characteristics of the information from a view of residents’ disaster responses and evaluated the effect through a workshop for the residents.

 We showed the new information can enhance individuality and locality more, and the characteristics can strengthen residents’ awareness of relationship with flood risk and themselves. In the results, opportunities to consider disaster responses can be produced by risk communication through the new flood hazard information.

 Recently hydropower developments invested by Independent Power Producers frequently face to several risks, which deteriorate the economy of projects and sometimes bankrupt projects, especially when worse topographic and geological conditions and resettlement issues come out. The developer usually prefers to select EPC (Engineering Procurement, and Construction) contract to pass through these risks. In the case of project having natural risks, EPC contract tends to increase the total project cost and make project uncompetitive. In the Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower project (NNP1) in Laos, the developer has intentionally selected a different type of construction contract from EPC contract and tried to directly manage risks referring to practice of total more than 150 hydropower projects in domestic and overseas. This paper present the practice of NNP1 and proposes practical risk management for hydropower development in Southeast Asia.

 In the progress of the bridge maintenance cycle, although the first round of the periodic inspection has ended, the progress rate of measures taken by municipalities has been delayed. A delay in action is a problem because the maintenance cycle has to be completed. In addition, the resident’s request at the forefront of maintenance that I receive as an employee of the city hall is the progress of the measures. So, from the beginning of 2016, for the purpose of “certain progress of measures”, I have performed “DIY repair” that city officials repair their own bridges. This is an effort to practice handmade maintenance using materials and equipment that can be procured by city hall employees even in rural areas, and won the 3rd Infrastructure Maintenance Award from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. but, it is not easy to build such a maintenance cycle system, and it shows how the authors practiced direct management through research and analysis while considering the constraints of the local government with a population of about 60,000.

 MLIT is promoting the Infrastructure System Overseas Development Action Plan 2019. However, it has been pointed out from the concerned country that the cost for construction of Japan is higher than that of competitors. So, in this study, targeting China which is a competitor in infrastructure system overseas development, the design example in the developing country of China is extracted. And by comparing with the design example of Japan, it is aimed to examine the measures that lead to the cost reduction in the design of Japan. Specifically, it is compared China-built bridges constructed parallel to Japan-built bridges in Cambodia. And it will be considered from the LCC comparison considering the setting method of the design condition, the thinking of the design, and the maintenance management aspect.

 It is necessary to understand the situation of rainfall and water levels and so on for managers of facilities such as underground malls to prevent inundation and evacuate properly. In this study, we investigated flood control activities by facility managers such as underground malls and we organized the roles and problems of the existing flood information systems that mainly governments were providing. As a result, there were some unsuitable points between existing systems and facility managers’ requirements. The governments’ web sites show each agency’s information covering wide range equitably although facility managers need various kinds of information that focus their places. Therefore, we developed an integrated flood control information system named “AREA-RAIN” to secure evacuation and prevent floods, and we started a demonstration for facility managers in the western part of Yokohama Station from August 2018. AREA-RAIN automatically collects data concerning flooding hazard at target locations, judges their risk levels, creates summaries and visualizations, informs parties concerned. The users’ evaluation of usefulness was inundation, water level, rainfall and tide level in descending order.

 An important measure for rebuilding risk-conscious and well-prepared society against water-related disasters is to make and improve flood hazard maps that can promote residents’ evacuation behavior. This study addresses the limitation of current hazard maps which assume maximum-scale rainfall for promoting residents’ understanding of flood disaster and voluntary evacuation. In order to overcome this limitation, it proposed “zoning-hazard map” which shows flooding conditions by zone. It then examined the effect of proposed map through an experiment targeting residents living in Nomura district at Seiyo-city in Ehime prefecture. The result showed that residents tended more to understand relevant conditions of flood disaster through reading the new type of flood hazard map than through an ordinary hazard map. The map was also shown to have an indirect effect on their judgment for evacuation through promoting their understanding of flood disaster.

 Recently hydropower developments invested by Independent Power Producers frequently face to several risks. Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) is one of the risks related to hydropower project. The almost lands in Lao PDR are highly contaminated by UXO through the Indonesia war and the following internal wars. The Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower Project (NNP1) in Lao PDR was required to clear UXO at the construction sites and in the reservoir area before starting construction works and biomass clearance. Before implementation, the NNP1 studied the process of UXO clearance supported by Lao government agency and selected appropriate method and qualified UXO clearance companies. This paper presents the status of UXO in Lao PDR including surrounding countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar briefly and details a practice of UXO clearance at the NNP1.

 Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects scheme, one of the Official Development Assistance, has great importance on the strength of flexibility and speediness as well as the commitment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Japan. It shall answer each request for basic human needs from remote areas in developing countries. Projects for constructions of schools or hospitals have been implemented by applicants or local corporations with a budget ceiling of 10,000,000 Japanese Yen. Nevertheless, few projects for the construction of civil structures such as local roads and low volume roads that are vital for basic human needs have been realized despite numerous requests. That is because the current implementation structure is insufficient to draw the detailed design for roads under different conditions or to execute smooth and quality construction management for roads.

 A case study in this article addresses the problems above and allocates a certain amount of the budget to enable a proficient engineer of an international NGO to supervise local engineers from the feasibility study to construction management under the constraints of the Grassroots scheme.

 Bid cancellation procedures by the incorrect cost estimation corresponding to design have been occurring in many local governments, and the facilities which should have been built are not built, and have a great influence on the public services. In addition, the incorrect cost estimation corresponding to design lead to a decrease in staff motivation. Each local government has been conducting internal investigations to prevent incorrect cost estimation. However, no local government has yet developed a firm diagnosis model and preventive measures. Particularly, there is no academic study outcome on this issue.

 In this article, the authors analyze the cause of the frequent occurrence situation of the incorrect cost estimation in local governments where the first author works and the reason why the incorrect cost estimation has become a social issue in recent years.