Japan Highway Public Corp. will not be able to build new expressways if it tries to pay off its debt in 30 years without taxpayers' money, according to a simulation carried out Tuesday by the infrastructure ministry.
The simulation by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry was carried out at the request of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who wanted to know how much of the special public firm's 9,342-km expressway plan could be completed under a repayment plan of 30 years and no tax money.
The public firm, which is supported by taxpayers' money to the tune of 300 billion yen a year, is proceeding with the project under a debt-repayment schedule extending over 50 years.
About 2,383 km of expressway -- much of it in less-profitable rural areas -- remains unfinished and will cost 20.6 trillion yen to complete, the ministry said.
Many experts and opposition lawmakers have raised concerns that the ministry-affiliated corporation could go bankrupt over the long repayment period.
The ministry also disclosed the results of other scenarios run in the simulation, which used various repayment periods to calculate the amount of taxpayer money needed to support the corporation each year.
For example, under a 30-year repayment period and a 300 billion yen tax injection, the corporation would be able to build 4.3 trillion yen worth of new roads, or just 21 percent of the 2,383 km of incomplete expressway.
The results of the simulation are expected to lead the reformist prime minister to revise the 9,342-km construction implementation plan, which was authorized by the National Development Arterial Expressway Construction Council in September 1999.
The council, an advisory body to the prime minister, authorized the plan based on the 1987 National Development Arterial Expressway Law, which obliges the government to build expressways totaling 14,000 km by specifically naming 43 routes across the country.