A majority of the people polled by Kyodo News support privatization of the nation's four public road entities but oppose a total freeze on construction of highways that would not be commercially viable.
The poll found that 61.8 percent of the 1,018 respondents support privatization of the four entities proposed by a government advisory panel to help prevent the government from using taxpayers' money to repay some 40 trillion yen in long-term debts that they owe.
Only 32.1 percent of the respondents oppose the proposal put forward in an interim report presented to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Aug. 30 by the advisory panel charged with mapping out ways to privatize the four entities.