Japan's New Home Affairs Minister on Postal Services Privatization, IT Investment

Japan's New Home Affairs Minister on Postal Services Privatization, IT Investment
From WORLD NEWS CONNECTION, April 30th, 2001

By Interview with Toranosuke Katayama, Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, and Posts and Telecommunications, unidentified Sankei
Shimbun reporter; date and place not given
[Sankei Shimbun] Can you give us your view about privatization of
three state-run postal services? [Katayama] I do not have a clear
view about it. The law stipulated that postal services should be
transferred to a public corporation, and I plan to set out a plan
for the transfer by the end of this year and want to approve
private-sector's entry to the postal services. It will be good to
conduct debates after the transfer, including privatization. If the
public favors the privatization, we cannot help but privatize the
services. [Sankei Shimbun] Do you see any gap in views between Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, an advocate of the privatization, and yourself?
[Katayama] He and I hold the same opinion. I think that Koizumi, for
his part as the Liberal Democratic Party [LDP] president, is of the
opinion that debates should be conducted, including the
privatization, after the postal services are transferred to the
public corporation, since it is an agreement reached among the three
ruling parties — the LDP, New Komeito, and the New Conservative
Party. [Sankei Shimbun] What do you plan to do if Koizumi shifts his policy
to privatizing the services at an early date? [Katayama] I do not
think he intends to do that. I think that he favors the
privatization after the services are transferred to the public
corporation. The ruling parties have already started preparation for
the transfer. [Sankei Shimbun] What is your plan on pulling mail services — one
of the postal services — out of the red? [Katayama] The mail charge
should not be increased. We have been making efforts to reinforce
management practices so that we can pull the mail services out of
the red in two years before the transfer. The private-sector's entry
to the services will allow maintenance of universal mail service
(nation-wide uniform rate system), and we will seek ways to run the
public corporation well. [Sankei Shimbun] Do you think that improvements of IT (information
technology) infrastructure should be made through public works
projects? [Katayama] We should have enough grit to finance
IT-related investments by public works projects. This will help
decrease the number of existing public works projects, lead to
realizing structural reforms and achieving economic recovery. [Sankei Shimbun] Heizo Takenaka, Minister in charge of Economic,
Fiscal and IT policy, calls for the complete breakup of Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT). [Katayama] NTT is a powerful domestic corporation, and it should not
exercise too much power. That is the reason why bills to revise the
Telecommunications Business Law were submitted to the Diet. [Sankei Shimbun] What is your plan to make progress in consolidation
of local municipalities? [Katayama] The government established
headquarters to support consolidation of municipalities; and
ministries and agencies have a strong desire to make a progress.
However, there remains a deep-rooted view in local officials that
the central government 'should not consolidate municipalities at an
early date.' Calls for consolidation of Shizuoka city and Shimizu
city has gathered strength, and I want to discuss deregulation for
deciding a government-designated city. [Sankei Shimbun] Do you have any specific idea to review local
revenue sources? [Katayama] The Committee for the Promotion of
Decentralization will end activities in July. I want the government
to set up a new organ to discuss specific distribution of local
taxes. It would be nice if ratio of national tax revenues
distributed to the central government and local municipalities is
set at 50 percent each from the current ratio of 60 percent for the
central government and 40 percent for local municipalities;
nevertheless, it would be difficult to set this target under the
current economic and fiscal circumstances. [Sankei Shimbun] Bills to realize electronic voting have not yet
been submitted to the Diet. [Katayama] Most of the bills are ready; yet, it is difficult to
submit all the bills to the Diet during the current session unless
it is extended due to delay in handling of other bills. [Sankei Shimbun] What is your view of granting permanent foreign
residents in Japan the right to vote in local assembly? [Katayama]
The government is in a difficult position concerning this issue. I
want the ruling and the opposition parties to conduct debates on it
freely. [Description of Source: Sankei Shimbun (Internet version-WWW) —
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Commerce. Source : World Reporter (Trade Mark)WORLD NEWS CONNECTION, 30th April 2001