Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged sharply increased support to revitalize business operations in Fukushima Prefecture, through measures to be decided in May.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged sharply increased support to revitalize business operations in Fukushima Prefecture, through measures to be decided in May.
That would be a key pillar of a reconstruction framework for a five-year period from fiscal 2016 that his administration will compile by this summer.
Without going into specifics, Abe unveiled the program during a news conference held on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that triggered the nuclear crisis.
The central government had designated the five-year period until fiscal 2015 as one "for intensive restoration work."
Prior to the March 10 news conference, Abe attended a joint meeting of the reconstruction promotion council and the nuclear energy disaster countermeasures headquarters and instructed them to concentrate on three main points.
The areas highlighted by Abe were that a latter five-year period framework would be compiled from fiscal 2016; the framework would seek to guide the disaster-stricken areas to greater independence; and to continue with support measures of vital importance.
At the same time, Abe told the participants that fiscal constraints did not allow for unlimited spending.
Reconstruction Minister Wataru Takeshita has already said that rather than continue with the policy of having the central government shoulder the entire burden, local governments would also be asked to bear some of the financial costs. His remarks were in reference to the reconstruction budget after fiscal 2016.
At his news conference, Abe stopped short of endorsing that stance and only said: "We will study a range of issues, while listening to the voices of disaster victims. This will include the extent to which local governments will be required to shoulder the fiscal burden."
Abe also pledged to resume operations over the entire JR Joban Line, which runs within 3 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Operations on part of the line that begins in Tokyo and follows the Pacific coastline of Ibaraki, Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures have been suspended since the nuclear accident.
Abe also touched upon the continuing problem of water contaminated with radioactive materials flowing out of the Fukushima No. 1 plant. He said his government would play a leading role in dealing with that issue rather than leave everything up to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the wrecked Fukushima plant.