The financial conditions of 17 operations conducted by government-affiliated public corporations have deteriorated despite government instructions to streamline, a government ministry said Sunday.
According to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, the government instructed 57 operations conducted by 32 public corporations to improve their business efficiency.
A followup survey by the ministry's Administrative Evaluation Bureau found that 40 of the 57 operations, such as a highway operation by the Japan Highway Public Corp., improved in accordance with the instructions.
But the remaining 17 operations deteriorated, the survey found. These operations include the loan business of the Japan Environment Corp. and the scholarship project by the Japan Scholarship Foundation.
The Japan Environment Corp. has financed projects to build facilities for environment conservation at the request of local governments and private firms. But its loans to private companies amounted to 259.5 billion yen as of the end of fiscal 2000. Of these, 33 billion yen was irrecoverable, according to the survey.
The survey results will be presented Monday to the nine ministries that supervise the 32 public corporations. They will be urged to try harder to improve the management of their affiliates, the ministry officials said.