Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said he was concerned Friday that his pet bill on administrative consolidation may be abandoned due to a dearth of deliberation time and persistent opposition from lawmakers, bureaucrats and labor unions.

During a meeting of the Administrative Reform Council held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, Hashimoto said that it is quite possible the bill, which would serve as the basic law for transforming the administrative system, will not be enacted by the end of the current Diet session, which ends in June. "I have a strong sense of fear of that possibility," Hashimoto told the members of the blue-ribbon government panel he heads.

Administrative reform has been one of Hashimoto's top policy priorities; he spent considerable time and energy promoting the issue last year. The bill states that the proposed transformation of the 22 government ministries and agencies into a Cabinet Office and 12 ministries and agencies would start in five years after enactment of the law, at the latest. Hashimoto hopes to start consolidation in January 2001.

If the bill fails to clear the Diet by the end of the current session, it would mean virtual abandonment. Deliberations on the administrative reform bill are expected to start only after budget-related matters clear the Diet.

Due to ongoing financial and economic problems, however, Diet deliberations on the fiscal 1998 budget bill have been delayed, and it now seems almost impossible for the budget bill to be enacted by the end of March.

In that case, a stopgap budget bill will become necessary. In addition, some senior members of Hashimoto's Liberal Democratic Party are considering drafting a supplementary budget plan for fiscal 1998 to boost dwindling domestic consumption.