The transport minister set up a private advisory panel Friday to study expressway construction plans, asking it to hammer out an interim report on the privatization of Japan Highway Public Corp. by the end of November.
Chikage Ogi called on the panel to study the feasibility of privatizing the national expressway entity, although the ministry had been suggesting that the public corporation be sold off only after merging it with two other regional highway corporations.
The five members of the panel include Ken Moroi, adviser to Taiheiyo Cement Corp., and Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. Moroi will chair the body.
At a news conference after their first meeting, Moroi said the panel will rule out abolishing the controversial public corporation and only study various privatization options.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ordered his Cabinet either to abolish or privatize all major government-backed special corporations, including Japan Highway Public Corp.
Moroi argued that abolition is unrealistic, given the huge scale in which expressways are being built across the country.