December 9 & 11, 2012
The recent disaster that occurred on an expressway caused by the collapse of ceiling panels in a tunnel calls into question political parties’ stance towards public works in the general election campaign.
Japanese governments have been absorbed in building roads and harbor facilities across the country while making light of the maintenance or renewal of such facilities.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party in its election campaign has proposed a “national land strengthening program” to put as much as 200 trillion yen in taxpayer’s money into public works over the next 10 years. LDP head Abe Shinzo argues that the state should take the lead in investing in public utilities.
The LDP’s proposal based on large-scale public works projects, including a “Japan Sea national axis plan”, reminds people of the party’s past plan for “Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago” that had ended in failure in the 1970s.
The Komei party, allied with the LDP, also pledges to sink 100 trillion yen into public projects over the next 10 years in the name of a “New Deal” policy for natural disaster prevention and damage reduction.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko, the head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, criticizes the two opposition parties for trying to recreate their outdated pork-barrel politics. However, it is the Noda Government that broke its own election pledge and revived public investment projects one after another such as the Outer Tokyo Beltway, the Yanba Dam, and networks of Shinkansen bullet train lines.
Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) leader Ishihara Shintaro, ex-governor of Tokyo, and JRP acting leader Hashimoto Toru, incumbent mayor of Osaka City, have pushed forward with big public works projects like the development of coastal areas at the request of business circles.
The Japanese Communist Party condemns these parties for being out of touch with reality and calls for not allowing the restoration of such pork-barrel policies. JCP Lower House member Kokuta Keiji argues that the government should shift its emphasis from the construction of new facilities to the maintenance of existing ones and promote community-based projects to protect the lives of local residents.
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While Japan’s main political parties other than the JCP are competing with each other for promotion of large-scale public works projects, major construction companies donated over 66 million yen in total to the LDP in 2011, reported Akahata on December 11.
According to political funding reports in 2011, Shimizu, Kajima, Taisei, Obayashi and Takenaka, which are affiliated with the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors (JFCC), made a contribution of 8.14 million yen each to the LDP. Penta-Ocean (Y4.72 mil) and Nippo (Y3.9 mil) followed their lead. The party received 66.27 million yen in total from 35 construction companies during the year.
The top three contributors to the party among industrial associations are the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (Y60.3 mil), the Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association (Y50 mil), and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Y40 mil). In the construction industry, each member corporation of the JFCC is supposed to make a donation to political parties. The JFCC is the largest donor to the LDP.
JFCC Chair Nomura Tetsuya (also chairman of Shimizu) said, “The view of the construction world largely supports the LDP policies.”
In response to this remark, LDP leader Abe Shinzo stated, “Now is the time the government should invest a lot of money in public works projects to boost the Japanese economy that has been suffering from the stronger yen and deflation.”
It has also come to light that four out of the six executive officials of the JFCC are from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. What is needed is to clean up the collusion between bureaucrats, politicians and big businesses.
Japanese governments have been absorbed in building roads and harbor facilities across the country while making light of the maintenance or renewal of such facilities.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party in its election campaign has proposed a “national land strengthening program” to put as much as 200 trillion yen in taxpayer’s money into public works over the next 10 years. LDP head Abe Shinzo argues that the state should take the lead in investing in public utilities.
The LDP’s proposal based on large-scale public works projects, including a “Japan Sea national axis plan”, reminds people of the party’s past plan for “Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago” that had ended in failure in the 1970s.
The Komei party, allied with the LDP, also pledges to sink 100 trillion yen into public projects over the next 10 years in the name of a “New Deal” policy for natural disaster prevention and damage reduction.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko, the head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, criticizes the two opposition parties for trying to recreate their outdated pork-barrel politics. However, it is the Noda Government that broke its own election pledge and revived public investment projects one after another such as the Outer Tokyo Beltway, the Yanba Dam, and networks of Shinkansen bullet train lines.
Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) leader Ishihara Shintaro, ex-governor of Tokyo, and JRP acting leader Hashimoto Toru, incumbent mayor of Osaka City, have pushed forward with big public works projects like the development of coastal areas at the request of business circles.
The Japanese Communist Party condemns these parties for being out of touch with reality and calls for not allowing the restoration of such pork-barrel policies. JCP Lower House member Kokuta Keiji argues that the government should shift its emphasis from the construction of new facilities to the maintenance of existing ones and promote community-based projects to protect the lives of local residents.
* * * * * * * * * *
While Japan’s main political parties other than the JCP are competing with each other for promotion of large-scale public works projects, major construction companies donated over 66 million yen in total to the LDP in 2011, reported Akahata on December 11.
According to political funding reports in 2011, Shimizu, Kajima, Taisei, Obayashi and Takenaka, which are affiliated with the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors (JFCC), made a contribution of 8.14 million yen each to the LDP. Penta-Ocean (Y4.72 mil) and Nippo (Y3.9 mil) followed their lead. The party received 66.27 million yen in total from 35 construction companies during the year.
The top three contributors to the party among industrial associations are the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (Y60.3 mil), the Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association (Y50 mil), and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Y40 mil). In the construction industry, each member corporation of the JFCC is supposed to make a donation to political parties. The JFCC is the largest donor to the LDP.
JFCC Chair Nomura Tetsuya (also chairman of Shimizu) said, “The view of the construction world largely supports the LDP policies.”
In response to this remark, LDP leader Abe Shinzo stated, “Now is the time the government should invest a lot of money in public works projects to boost the Japanese economy that has been suffering from the stronger yen and deflation.”
It has also come to light that four out of the six executive officials of the JFCC are from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. What is needed is to clean up the collusion between bureaucrats, politicians and big businesses.
