The General Affairs Ministry, to be created in January, will seek a budget for fiscal 2001 that is 18.3 percent larger than the combined initial budget of its three predecessor organizations for fiscal 2000, government officials said Friday.

The ministry, which will be formed in a merger of the Home Affairs Ministry, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry, and Management and Coordination Agency, is seeking 19.771 trillion yen, up by 3.054 trillion yen.

The large margin of increase for fiscal 2001, which starts next April, reflects spending earmarked for information technology projects and also increased tax grants to local governments.

The Home Affairs Ministry accounts for 18.222 trillion yen of the total budget request, the posts ministry 117.3 billion yen and the Management and Coordination Agency 1.342 trillion yen. The remaining figure, some 90 billion yen, is for covering personnel costs and lighting and heating expenses.

The Home Affairs Ministry will ask for 17.142 trillion yen in a special budget for tax grants, up 3.126 trillion yen, or 22.3 percent, from its initial budget for fiscal 2000.

The rise is in line with the decline in revenues in the general account for tax grants resulting from permanent tax cuts. The ministry is also seeking some 370 billion yen to help promote mergers of cities, towns and villages, up eight times from its initial budget for the current fiscal year.

The posts ministry is looking for 33.9 billion yen for outlays on IT-related projects, such as promoting digital broadcasting.

Most of the portion of the budget requested by the Management and Coordination Agency will be spent on pension costs, which will stand at 1.301 trillion yen.

Budget up 5.4% in '01

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will request a 3.614 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2001, up 5.4 percent from its initial budget for the current fiscal year, ministry officials said Friday.

About 52.2 percent of funds, or 1.886 trillion yen, would be earmarked for public works -- up 8.1 percent from the initial budget for fiscal 2000.

The ministry will ask for 179.2 billion yen in special budgetary quotas aimed at revitalizing the economy, of which 28 billion yen would be used to apply information technology to controlling data and managing activities ranging from food shipment to distribution.

The budget would also earmark 177.2 billion yen for irrigating and improving fields to increase production of crops such as wheat and soybeans with an eye to boosting Japan's food self-sufficiency rate to 45 percent by fiscal 2010.

In the biotechnology area, the ministry is asking for 5.9 billion yen to increase genetic research of rice plants.

3.6 trillion yen sought

The Environment Agency, which will become a ministry in January, made a budget request Friday of just over 3.6 trillion yen for the next fiscal year, up 39.5 percent from the current fiscal year.

The figure includes money for waste management and waste policies, responsibility for which will be transferred from the Health and Welfare Ministry to the agency in January.

The agency is requesting 249 billion yen to encourage an environmentally sustainable society through recycling and through the safe disposal of garbage.

In order to "open the path to an environmentally safe Asia and world" the agency is asking for 10.8 billion yen to implement measures to cope with global warming and ozone depletion, such as research into the merits of a carbon tax.

The majority of the 18 billion yen eyed to secure citizen safety and peace of mind will go into dioxin and endocrine-disrupter research and policy.

The agency also wants around 3 billion yen to develop a system to better convey information and hold dialogue with citizens.