The government decided informally Thursday to appoint a House of Councilors member and former businessman as president of Japan Highway Public Corp.
Takeshi Kondo will likely fill the key position in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plan to privatize the debt-ridden semigovernmental entity in 2005.
Japan Highway's top post has been vacant since Oct. 24, when Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Nobuteru Ishihara removed Haruho Fujii, 67.