Owners of condominium complexes developed by Huser Ltd. with fabricated quake-resistance data called on the government at a Diet committee session Thursday to increase support for rebuilding the defective structures.

"We want (the government) to extend support that would remove residents' anxieties," Katsutoshi Shimizu said during a session of the Committee of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the House of Councilors.

Shimizu owns a unit in Grand Stage Sumiyoshi in Tokyo's Koto Ward.

Shimizu said he hopes the government will flexibly support plans to rebuild defective condos and will take measures to reduce the financial burden on those who have bought units with substandard quake resistance.

Disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, who is at the center of the building-code violation scandal, provided fabricated structural data for Grand Stage Sumiyoshi and a number of other condo complexes.

It is the first time owners of condos with substandard quake resistance have appeared before the Diet to give unsworn testimony since the fraud came to light Nov. 17.

Authorities have barred residents from living in condos that may collapse in the event of a moderately strong quake and many have already moved out.

Some owners of condominiums developed by Huser, including those of Grand Stage Sumiyoshi, are considering asking for a court decision to declare Huser bankrupt so its assets can be frozen and used to rebuild the structures. But concrete plans for the reconstruction have not been formulated.

Also at the Upper House committee session, Saburo Nakagawa, president of Center One Hotel Handa in Aichi Prefecture, lashed out at the prefectural government for failing to detect the fabricated structural data in checking building plans and called for compensation.

Nakagawa told the committee a construction firm introduced him to General Management Consultant, a Tokyo-based firm for hotel construction and operations, in June 2001.

The firm's chief consultant, Takeshi Shikasho, allegedly told a building design firm to reduce the amount of steel reinforcement and other materials in the construction of a hotel.

17 faulty inns team up

Seventeen hotels in 12 prefectures built with quake-resistance data fabricated by disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha have set up a liaison council to urge the government to speed up the process for enhancing their structural integrity, members said.