The government is aiming to create an agency to oversee the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas in the northeast before the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said.
"We will move forward with preparations to launch the agency before March 11," Noda said Thursday in the Diet, as long as bills to establish the body are passed during the extraordinary Diet session through Dec. 9.
The envisioned agency would draft reconstruction plans and coordinate overall efforts, including budget allocations and subsidies to municipalities. The agency would nominally be headed by the prime minister but be administered by the minister in charge of postdisaster reconstruction.