Under strong pressure from the reformist Koizumi Cabinet, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry unveiled a draft plan Friday to privatize six controversial road- and housing-related semigovernmental corporations.
Japan Public High Corp., Metropolitan Expressway Public Corp. and Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. would be merged within a year and then privatized later, according to the plan submitted by land minister Chikage Ogi to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
No target date was set, but full privatization could take about 10 years, ministry officials said.