The government hopes to enact bills to reinvigorate Japanese industry by the end of the current Diet session, including measures such as tax breaks for manufacturers disposing of unnecessary facilities accumulated during the asset-inflated bubble economy, a top government official indicated Friday.
On Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said the government will compile a set of bills to implement proposals made by the Industrial Competition Council, a panel comprised of government and industrial leaders under the direct supervision of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
The bills would enable companies to use land designated for industrial plants for other purposes so as to ensure job security and facilitate smooth shifts in the labor market.
They would also implement other measures to beef up Japan's manufacturing sector.
Only about 40 days are left before the close of the current Diet session but nearly 100 bills, including important legislation to reorganize government ministries and agencies, are still pending.
The top government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that it will be possible to get Diet approval quickly once the bills are submitted. "Such emergency bills to tackle the nation's unemployment problem will be able to gain support of all the parties," he said.