Friday, Dec. 2, 2011

The government plans to give prefectures and municipalities help repairing infrastructure in areas near the Fukushima no-go zone that lifted their voluntary evacuation advisories, sources said.

The aid will cover projects to improve roads and embankments and other items in need of reconstruction since the quake, tsunami and nuclear accident.

An outline of legislation to facilitate reconstruction shows the areas will also receive preferential terms on the projects compared with other affected areas. This includes free land for industrial use and greater tax breaks.

The bill, which the government intends to submit to the Diet in January, is aimed at providing all-out support for people gravely affected by the radioactive fallout emanating from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which was heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Once the evacuation directives are lifted, infrastructure improvements will be carried out based on a rehabilitation plan to be hammered out by the prime minister, the Cabinet and local government chiefs.

The Fukushima Prefectural Government is to prepare a set of incentives to promote local products and specialties, including the reduction or exemption of registration fees for products that adopt the Fukushima brand.

To support the creation of environmental and other new businesses, the prefectural government would also prepare other programs, including simplified procedures for approving geothermal projects.

Other steps envisioned by the legislation include health surveys, which would be carried out throughout the prefecture.

The prefecture would use the basic resident registry managed by the municipal governments, to confirm information on the remaining residents.

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