Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

• The reconstruction budget

REPORTER: I have a question concerning the budget for reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake, an announcement about which was made today. What is your reaction to the fact that 3.4 trillion yen of the budget allocated for reconstruction has not been used?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: It is a fact that from the fiscal 2012 budget for reconstruction a total of 2.1 trillion yen ear-marked for urban development projects and 500 billion yen allocated for decontamination work has yet to be disbursed. These projects are ones that prioritize the formation of consensus among persons concerned in the relevant municipalities and communities and I believe that the reason the budget was not disbursed is due to the fact that consensus was not reached. I hear that this is why the actual amount disbursed did not reach the amount of the budget that was initially allocated. However, given that reconstruction from the earthquake is one of the three pillars of the Abe administration, together with revitalization of the Japanese economy and thorough crisis management, the Government seeks to focus human resources and materials and use all means possible to further develop structures for implementing reconstruction. Given the results that have been announced today, I believe that reconstruction efforts need to be accelerated.

REPORTER: It was the case that for fiscal 2011 an even greater proportion of the budget for reconstruction was not used, which raises questions about the status of considerations on how to make budget execution more efficient.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: I believe that projects involving decontamination and urban development are particularly difficult in that they require consensus among local residents, which takes time to achieve. This is the reason why budget allocation could not be fully disbursed. If consensus could be achieved it would be the case that budget would be fully used and the Government will naturally continue to make efforts to try to ensure that consensus can be reached. However, these are projects in which agreement of local residents is a priority and it is difficult to reach such a consensus. Nonetheless, as one of the three pillars of the administration's policies, the Government will continue to make every effort to accelerate reconstruction efforts.