The Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed early use of a 500 billion yen reserve fund set aside for public works under the fiscal 2000 budget to help rev up the economy.

Of the total, 89.6 billion yen will be spent on relief measures for disaster-hit areas such as Miyake Island and areas affected by the eruption of Hokkaido's Mount Usu, government officials said.

Another 39.6 billion yen will be used for urban development projects such as elevated overpasses and underground electric power cables, 34.2 billion yen for information and telecommunications infrastructure, and 44.3 billion yen for environmental protection.

Other planned outlays include disbursement of 42.5 billion yen for increasing food self-sufficiency, they said.

The endorsement follows an agreement between the three ruling coalition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- to utilize the reserve fund for transportation and natural disaster-related expenditures.

The Cabinet also approved an additional outlay of 126.1 billion yen in fiscal 2000 under the "zaito" fiscal investment and loan program. This amount includes 120 billion yen earmarked mainly for the purchase of municipal bonds.

7.5 billion yen for airport

NAGOYA (Kyodo) The government has allocated 7.5 billion yen to finance shore-protection works for the planned Chubu International Airport, the airport's operator said Tuesday.

The outlay is part of the government's 500 billion yen special fund for public works projects set aside in the fiscal 2000 budget.

The airport will be built in Ise Bay, roughly 35 km south of Nagoya, and is to begin operations in 2005, in time for the 2005 Exposition in the nearby city of Seto.

Construction work on the 770 billion yen airport is set to begin next month.

"The schedule is very tight if we are to open the airport in 2005," said Yukihisa Hirano, president of Central Japan International Airport Co. "We have to steadily proceed with construction work while taking precautions against possible accidents caused by abnormal weather conditions."