[talk] Highway Reforms without a Ground Design, which Inhibit Regional Autonomy

Masuda Hiroya: Governor of Iwate Prefecture

He graduated from the Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo in 1977 and then, joined the Ministry of Construction of Japan. He also worked in Chiba prefectual Police and Ibaraki prefectural government. After retiring from the ministry, He was elected as the youngest governor in Japan. He is promoting a new style of local administration like introducing a new evaluation system for public construction projects and transferring powers from the prefectural government to municipal governments.He is famous for his "Ganbaranai Sengen" ("Don't work too hard" slogan).

Masayasu Kitagawa: Governor of Mie prefecture

Born in 1944. Graduated from Commerce Department of Waseda University in 1967. After being a member of the Mie Prefecture Congress, he was elected his first time as a member of the House of Representatives in 1983. In 1990, he worked as Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Education. He has been Governor of Mie Prefecture since 1995. He introduced “an office work evaluation system” to proceed reforms by means of zero-base evaluation of the projects. He also draws up and promoted "The Declaration of Mie Development", an all-around plan targeting 2010. He actively tackles reforms of the prefecture politics through these activities, using Start from average lives as a key concept and Information open to public as a key word.

Yoshiki Kimura: Governor of Wakayama Prefecture

After graduating from Kyoto University, Faculty of law, he joined the Ministry of Home Affairs of Japan in 1974. He also worked in the local governments of Kitakyusyu City and Saitama, Ehime, Wakayama, and Osaka Prefecture. He was elected as the governor of Wakayama Prefecture in 2000. His proposal of preserving the forests and retaining jobs through the "Green Employment Policy" has resulted in the revitalization of under-populated areas. He also promotes structural reform by the local regions.

Yoshihiro Katayama: Governor of Tottori Prefecture

After graduating from a Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Home Affairs of Japan in 1974. He also worked in Tottori Prefectual Government several times. After retiring from the ministry with the position of director of Prefectual Tax Planning Division, he was elected as a governor of Tottori Prefecture in 1999. He is working for disclosure of information and securing transparency in the prefectural administration.

Yoshitsugu Hayashi: Professor, the graduate School of Engineering of Nagoya University

He is an expert of sustainable transport and special development. He works as a member of government councils, editors of international, journals and received numerous awards. His published works include "The Environment and Transport" and "Global Environment and Metropolises".

In Japan Highway Public Corporation Privatization Committee established by Prime Minister Koizumi, debates on privatization became in name only and they were replaced by debates on how to reform organization of the Public Corporation. The Committee debates concerning the handling of highway construction were heated up to the end. On the other hand, the Liberal Democratic Party’s supporters of highway construction came out in clear opposition of the Committee stating, “It was the nation’s responsibility to construct according to the plans”. The media headed by television took up this issue as a composition of “the Koizumi reforms vs. resistance forces” and it appears that the debates concerning the highway construction issue proceeding towards the final report of the Privatization Committee will be quite heated.

However, there is concern that the focus is placed only on the question of economic efficiency such as profitability and progress of construction other than the issue of how to reform organization of the Highway Public Corporations, and that “the debates were cut down with narrow viewpoints even though the level of priority of certain highways handled by the Public Corporations is extremely high compared with other projects” according to Mr. Katayama. If highways are considered as the “basic framework” of the nation and the most important public good, Mr. Masuda states that their construction and maintenance should be “considered along with a ground design for the national land as a whole” and Mr. Kimura claims that “the burden of their construction and maintenance should be allocated to multiple generations through the issuance of construction bonds”. The more a regional governor wants to work towards regional developments, the more that these debates appear to be out of focus.

These debates at the Committee also lack the viewpoint that “it is unfair to criticize those regions which await the construction of highways and to force the region to bear the costs” according to Mr. Katayama. The Privatization Committee does not care about the viewpoint of political fairness because it does not understand the realities of the regions, and there is no healthy leadership from the government that should consider the necessity and the system of highways within the national structure itself.

Of course, this does not mean that there are no problems on the part of the regions. Mr. Hayashi states that “when a region constructs a ‘passage’, the issue of whether there is a ‘core’” is important, and the issues for regions in the future are how to change vulnerable regional policy. The regions should clarify its authority and responsibility and become autonomous vis-a-vis the national government. To this end, it is necessary to place significance on “the debates on the issue of highways to the level of how to decentralize and what is the plan for the nation”, according to Mr. Kitagawa.