Japan's land ministry plans to remove utility poles and bury overhead cables along 1,400 kilometers of roads over the next 3 years.

The ministry says the plan will focus on major roads in large cities that would be used in case of natural disasters. Areas near the venues of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and World Heritage sites will also be given priority.

The ministry plans to raise the percentage of major roads without utility poles to 42 percent by fiscal 2020. 34 percent had no utility poles as of the end of March last year.

It aims to increase the percentage of roads without utility poles near World Heritage sites to 79 percent, from 37 precent.

The ministry will decide the specific roads by mid-March after discussions with power companies and local municipalities.

The estimated cost of burying overhead cables is about 4.7 million dollars per kilometer.