The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on August 25 will begin accepting registration forms from businesses interested in bidding on 30-year leases for land along the Tokyo Bay waterfront development area.

It will be the second time the city has opened bidding, which has been suspended since 1990 while real estate values continued their plunge after the burst of the bubble economy. This time, a total of 188,129 sq. meters, including land near the Tokyo International Exhibition Center Station, will be up for bid.

Some observers, however, doubt that the government will be able to lease all the land, given the lingering reluctance of real estate investors and relatively poor public transportation on the man-made island. The development project also has been rocked by prolonged public debate over whether to continue the gigantic project in the face of mounting government deficits.

But the government decided to resume the bidding in June when Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima gave a green light to the development's continuation. Firms that register in September are not required to eventually bid.

A list of companies that register will be made public, which will make it easier for companies to form consortiums to jointly propose land projects, government officials said. The government will invite bids at a later date.