The Construction Ministry will set up an expert committee to study ways to lay fiber-optic cables in sewer pipes to create a telecommunications network reaching a large number of households, ministry officials said Tuesday.
The 16-member committee will study how the ministry should gain public support for the development of such a network and how the nation's sewer systems could be utilized for that purpose.
The committee, whose members include Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son and the governor of Okayama, will first meet Friday and is expected to issue a report by the yearend.
However, the project has already drawn objections.
After the day's Cabinet meeting, posts minister Kozo Hirabayashi questioned the advisability of leaving the project to the Construction Ministry, noting his ministry is also working on the development of a fiber-optic network.
Construction Minister Chikage Ogi dismissed his comments, saying ministries cannot afford to be engaged in a "turf war" when Japan is poised for an information technology revolution.
"This is the kind of project that both ministries should work on together," Ogi was quoted as saying.