Discounting Reconstruction

With an order from Prime Minister, Reconstruction Agency released a revised guideline for reconstruction from the disaster four years ago. The plan intensively proposed “appropriate” expenditure for some parts of reconstruction projects to local governments suffered from the earthquake or nuclear accident. Some people were disappointed with the policy of national government, which would pose great burden on still dependent community.

The national government made reconstruction plan for ten years. They call the first half of the decade “designated reconstruction period” with full national support for reconstruction projects. The rest of the years starting 2016 were simply named “second half of reconstruction period.” With comprehensive temporary taxation for it, the government poured ¥25 trillion into the projects for the first half.

The greatest difference between both halves is burden of suffered people. While the national government would continue to full financial support for landfill, building houses or care for evacuated people from nuclear contamination for the second half, it proposed suffered local communities to pay for developments that would make no difference from ordinary projects in everywhere in Japan.

Governors of four suffered prefectures asked the agency to extend designated reconstruction period and not to cut national budget for reconstruction projects. Even a few percentages of the burden on local community may lead to bankrupt, because the reconstruction projects are financially too big to maintain. The governors presented an estimate of money for the second half of reconstruction period as about ¥8 trillion. But, national government has not made clear how much they would reserve for the budget.

Reconstruction projects were delayed with laziness of bureaucratic management of national government. Officers in the local government had to travel around Japan looking for owners of land for reconstruction area, because national government required complete approval for the land development in an ordinary manner. Price hike of raw material that needed to construction and shortage of labor force were brought by Tokyo-centered economic policy laid by Shinzo Abe.

But, bureaucrats in Tokyo do not recognize their responsibility on it. “Because the money has been collected from taxpayers, we need to distribute appropriately,” they reiterate. The greatest concern is that new policy may make fundamental turning point for national government to retreat reconstruction effort on its way to achievement.