The government on Mar. 31 outlined its comprehensive package to encourage more transactions of collateralized land, suggesting that the public and private sector cooperate in purchasing and redeveloping 380 billion yen worth of real estate in fiscal 1997.

The plan, announced on the final day of fiscal 1996, is an attempt to better utilize existing methods to increase liquidity of collateralized land formerly held by such financial institutions as the now-defunct "jusen" housing loan corporations. By boosting the liquidity of the real estate and land transactions in general, government officials said they hope that financial institutions will step up efforts to write-off the remainder of their nonperforming loans.

Vice Finance Minister Tadashi Ogawa said he hopes that the plan will spur creation of specific ideas and proposals to use the the collateralized land. The package announced Mar. 31 calls for land at 900 locations nationwide, with a total book-value of 380 billion yen, to be purchased with the help of taxpayers' money in fiscal 1997. Most of it would be used for public works projects.