An army of reserve soldiers that was never mobilized after last year's disasters has been cited as an example of waste by Finance Minister Jun Azumi, who also called for tighter control of government spending.

Only 17 percent of reserves said they were available for duty after the March 2011 calamities, with 0.3 percent mobilized, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday in an annual inspection report. The program had a budget of ¥8 billion for the year through March 2012.

Azumi said the government needs to target efficiency since it's asking taxpayers to take on a greater fiscal burden with the planned sales tax hike. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's plan to double the sales tax to 10 percent by 2015 was passed by the Lower House last week and is awaiting Upper House approval.

An immigration detention center in Nagasaki Prefecture that has a capacity of 800 people and holds a daily average of only 20 also featured in Tuesday's report, along with questions over the system for procuring defense surveillance satellites.

The ministry's report said that four of 50 government projects inspected may not be necessary, 15 needed some revision and 45 could have been executed with fewer funds. Officials are still examining another 25.