The land ministry's five community-building projects worth a combined ¥169.8 billion should be relegated to municipalities and the private sector, and 10 percent to 20 percent of the ministry's ¥232.5 billion request for road maintenance should be axed, a key state panel on cutting wasteful spending said Thursday.
Panelists also called for halving the health ministry's ¥57.3 billion request to address the uneven distribution of doctors, on the prospect that their decision Wednesday to review remuneration for doctors will help in dealing with the problem, and abolishing a ¥400 million project for preventing female-specific illnesses.
It is the second of a nine-day schedule for the panel to streamline the fiscal 2010 budget requests after earmarking cuts of at least ¥70 billion on the first day Wednesday.