The central government must look to local governments and their leaders when reviewing public works projects and avoid drastically reviewing or canceling them without such input, Infrastructure Minister Chikage Ogi said.
"You just can't ignore local assemblies and municipal heads," Ogi said in an interview after her reappointment last week as land, infrastructure and transport minister.
Last year, the ruling coalition reviewed controversial public works projects, a process that involved 300 meetings by local project review committees, she pointed out.