A key advisory panel on the privatization of expressway operators urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday to have his government present the panel with a draft of relevant legislation before consulting with ruling coalition leaders on the matter later this year.
It is the first time for the seven-member committee to submit a written recommendation to Koizumi since it compiled a proposal for privatizing the debt-ridden expressway operators in December.
The panel is calling on Koizumi to instruct land minister Nobuteru Ishihara to submit the ministry's draft legislation for privatization of the expressway operators to the committee and ask for its opinions.