The new administrative system may not be launched for another five years, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto indicated Thursday.
"We aim to start the new system preferably in January 2001, or in five years at the latest," Hashimoto told a special Cabinet meeting. The meeting was held to confirm that the government will immediately start making preparations to reorganize the administrative system by paying due heed to the final report released Wednesday by the Administrative Reform Council.
Hashimoto's remarks were taken as a departure from his earlier pledge that the new administration would be introduced in 2001. It is believed they were meant to give the government more time to make the necessary preparations. "Massive work needs to be done to launch a new government," Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka said in explaining Hashimoto's remarks. It has already been agreed that a five-year preparation period will be necessary to transform a planned postal services agency into a public corporation, Muraoka added.