The Liberal Democratic Party put off approval Tuesday of a bill to limit investment in Narita International Airport Corp. because LDP lawmakers complained about the proposal's failure to address national security, government officials said.

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry hopes to get the LDP on board as early as next week and Cabinet approval to submit the bill to the Diet before the end of the month, ministry officials said.

They quoted LDP lawmakers as saying the bill fails to require the airport operator to cooperate with the government in an emergency and that it lacks measures for national security.

The bill is designed to limit any single shareholder's equity ownership to less than 20 percent regardless of whether the party is Japanese or foreign after the company makes an initial public offering in the 2010 business year.

The ministry is pushing the bill after an earlier version to limit foreign ownership of the company to less than one-third came under fire last year for impeding foreign investment in Japan in general.