The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry will further reduce tolls on three bridges linking Honshu and Shikoku in a bid to get people to use the heavily indebted expressways, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday.

A provisional discount of about 28 percent off the basic rates will be introduced later this year, adding roughly 8 percentage points to a discount system already in place, he said.

The Diet is expected to pass legislation calling for special measures in fiscal 2003 to slash the debt burden of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority, which operates the three bridges at a loss.