The Finance Ministry will cut outlays for sewerage by around 20 percent and for dam and flood-control projects by more than 10 percent next fiscal year to achieve a 10 percent cut in public works spending, ministry sources said Thursday.
The reductions, based on a proposal made Oct. 26 by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, were made in response to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's attempt to review public works spending and bolster spending in urban redevelopment and six other priority areas, they said.
Japan's entrenched pork-barrel public works system has traditionally resulted in fixed outlays for projects.
The ministry expects the 10 percent cut in sewerage-related public works spending to save around 110 billion yen. This will make it possible to invest more in the seven priority areas, which also include the environment, the aging population, regional revitalization, and human resources -- the environment, the aging population, urban redevelopment, regional revitalization, science and technology, human resources development and information technology.
The ministry is facing opposition in negotiations with the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry over the projected cuts, especially for dam-related spending, they said.
The ministry's cuts go further than those sought by the council, which had called for saving money for building more waste-disposal facilities, universities, day-care centers and homes for senior citizens.