Lower house approves Y2 tril 2nd quake recovery budget
TOKYO —
The powerful lower house of the Diet on Wednesday approved a 2 trillion yen extra budget to pay for relief and rebuilding after the March 11 quake-tsunami, amid mounting pressure on Prime Minister Naoto Kan to resign.
The second extra budget for fiscal 2011 will now go to the upper house, which is expected to enact it Friday, with support from both the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its partner New Komeito.
The budget sets aside 800 billion yen in reserve for reconstruction and 275 billion yen for the nuclear crisis at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, including compensation for victims and health checks for local residents.
The government will use surplus funds from last year to pay for the budget to avoid having to issue new bonds, as Japan already faces the industrialised world’s largest public debt at around 200% of GDP.
Kan’s government plans a third extra budget later this year, with analysts estimating it to be worth 10 trillion yen.
The government has estimated costs resulting from damage from the March 11 disasters at 16.9 trillion yen, but this does not include expenses associated with the crisis at the crippled Fukushima plant.
Kan’s administration has faced heavy criticism for not acting swiftly enough to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s northern Pacific coasts, with his approval ratings limping below 20%.
The premier survived a no-confidence vote in June by promising to resign at some point in the future, and has since indicated that he will step down in late August.
His government is also seen to be slow in dealing with the nuclear crisis that has forced tens of thousands to evacuate their home and caused widening food contamination.
© Agence France-Presse
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-1
ihavegreatlegs
Learn from Russia. Health first.
0
some14some
They always talk in trillions of Yen but millions of people remain in trouble financially.
-1
Miyagidad
Most of these reconstruction funds (up to 90%) will end up recycled back to the large corporations in Kanto or Kansai - direct repatriation of profits, through building material distribution networks, or simply through money spent in large retailers. There should be a government stipulation attached to all reconstruction funds that there is a limit to the ridiculous levels of subcontracting and that 50%+ of all funds remain in the region.
The large construction companies will hate it, transport companies will grumble about lost profits, energy use will go down and the construction material industry might even have to move large numbers of jobs to the region to meet demand.
It is also an opportunity (though it won't be taken) to move away from the ridiculous notion that PV solar power or Wind turbines can or should be an electricity generating substitute. Invest now in proven systems - combined heat and power (CHP)plants, solar water heaters and preheaters for every home -cheap and effective, substituting portland cement production with flyash and lime based materials (40-90% reduction in energy use in a sector using 12-15% of all energy use), establish a committee to design industrial clustering development for the tsunami areas and beyond, where the waste and energy generated by one factory fuels or contributes to the production of the next one. And so on.....
These are the areas of development that need to be enacted, but there is no discussion, little government capacity, no political will and little understanding of what sustainability actually means.
0
Utrack
The people living in the prefecture where cattle have been contaminated are in Hot Spots and their health HAS to be considered. Some of the Hot Spots maybe as to be in the Daiichi NPP itself.
0
illsayit
Well although I think there needs to be money distributed quickly, and construction is needed in the area. Arguing for sustainability while trying to reconstruct an area is getting too in depth and detailed, and that is once again time consuming. People also have to realize that construction costs money, you cant expect people to labour for nothing, and the goods needed to re-build-towns worths that is-is going to cost money. Suggesting one format over another is just preferential. Concrete is quite cheap actually. Supplies, are often bought through certain suppliers, and there is room for variation in which company and what goods are used there, but again this is time,and certain areas of trust need to be established, as well as it wont get past the monies moving out of the region too (unless you wanted to start up a wood mill as well, or something like that, and that still means getting feasibilty to the wood in the area and so on) This needs to be encouraged at the local govt levels. Establishing a committee isnt really needed because the local governments, really can act as that. The suggestion that workers are needed is true, but they then also need living quarters, and so the monies and how they are then distributed will take time, as each area and peoples make what they want known, while also if possible training and giving jobs to locals would be ideal. I think a slower approach is better for all-and believe the locals will realize this too. Workers-that is laborers, not pencil pushers- need to be drawn there, so a slow approach with vision will lead to ideas revolving around sustainability, and rebuilding that would compliment the area. Also this would leave pressure off too much taxing the government quickly-so long as the locals get support through the winter.
1
NetNinja
MORE!!! This is just a drop in the bucket.
Empty all the coffers!!
-1
Utrack
J Govt needs to use part of this Money to come clean to the Public.
0
globalwatcher
O-O SPAGETTIO!!!
. Cheap Skates. Do more!
But I've got to think if Japan can afford to do that? Who will pay for that?
0
globalwatcher
joke, legs?
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