The government and ruling parties formulated a final proposal Saturday for the privatization of four road corporations, agreeing to merge the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority with another road company after fiscal 2005, by which time the authority's business should be back on track, government sources said.

Japan Highway Public Corp., the nation's main road construction and management body, will be divided into three regional companies when it is privatized, scheduled for fiscal 2005, according to the proposal.

The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority, which is seeing its business dwindle due to fewer than expected drivers using three paid highways connecting Honshu and Shikoku, would be merged into one of the privatized regional companies covering the area, they said.

A panel of private-sector experts tasked with promoting the privatization recommended in a final report in December 2002 that the authority be merged into a privatized regional entity.

However, the government and the ruling parties agreed to delay the merger beyond the fiscal 2005 privatization of Japan Highway, Honshu-Shikoku Authority, Metropolitan Expressway Public Corp. and Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. in order to continue getting local governments to pump subsidies into the authority, the sources said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Nobuteru Ishihara agreed Saturday on the details of the proposal and the ruling parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito -- gave their consent to it in principle.

The plan will be formally decided on at a meeting of officials from the government and the ruling parties on Monday, they said.

On Koizumi's instructions, 2.5 trillion yen will be cut from the budget for new road construction and be used to repay the debts, which total 40 trillion yen, instead of the earlier agreed 2 trillion yen, they said.