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News Navigator: Why is the government cutting back on highway toll discounts?
The Mainichi answers common questions readers may have regarding the recently announced government policy on highway tolls, which will result in toll hikes in some cases.
Question: The Hatoyama administration had pledged to make highway tolls free for drivers. Why, then, is it going to cut back on toll discounts?
Answer: It's partly because out of the 2.6 trillion yen in reserves set aside for toll discounts, 1.4 trillion yen will be diverted to highway construction. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) had, in its policy pledge, called for toll-free highways and spending taxpayers' money on highway construction only when necessary, but it is not easy to secure financial resources for the plan.
Furthermore, in December last year, DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa called for allocating part of the resources for toll discounts to highway construction as part of the DPJ's major requests for the government. With the House of Councillors election looming ahead this summer, the Hatoyama administration apparently decided to prioritize highway construction over toll discounts in order to show consideration for local regions.
Q: Wouldn't the toll hike further push down the support rate for the Hatoyama administration?
A: Since the opinion polls conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun and other media organizations have shown that there are not many people who support toll-free highways, the administration has apparently decided that it is better to put priority on highway construction over toll discounts ahead of the upcoming election.
What's more, the cheaper the toll is, the more people tend to use cars instead of railways and other public transport systems, resulting in an increase in traffic jams and carbon dioxide emissions. This goes against the Hatoyama administration's pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. During a press conference on April 9, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Seiji Maehara said that the government will make a final decision on the highway toll system after assessing its effect on other transport systems and the environment. "The latest toll system is only a relay point for that," he said.
Q: The DPJ, which advocates a shift "from concrete to people," has criticized previous governments over too much wasteful use of taxpayers' money on highway construction, hasn't it?
A: Highways used to be constructed by public highway corporations based on government plans. However, the debts incurred by such corporations snowballed to 40 trillion yen after they constructed too many unprofitable highways. Under the administration led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the four public highway corporations were aligned into six private highway companies in 2005. After the privatization, highway companies were only allowed to construct profitable expressways. On the other hand, a new system has been introduced under which regional highways, though unprofitable but necessary for everyday lives, are constructed with taxpayers' money and are run toll free.
Q: So there will be no more wasteful spending of taxpayers' money on highway construction?
A: That's not necessarily the case. In April last year, the government extended the planned sections for highway construction for the first time in 10 years in a bid to stimulate the nation's economy damaged by the global financial crisis. Among them, there are reportedly unprofitable highway sections. Since highway companies cannot afford to construct money-losing highways while repaying their debts accumulated during their public corporation days, further construction of useless highways could get them deeper into debt. (Answers by Akihiko Yamamoto, Economic News Department)
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(Mainichi Japan) April 12, 2010