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''The Economic Plan for the Second Half of the 1970s'' (approved by a
Cabinet conference in May 1976) which was prepared with its aim set for smooth
transition into stable growth, assumes the real growth rate as about 6% and
estimates the total public investments to be about 100 trillion yen during these
five years (1976 - 1980). (It is about 3/4 of the previous plan in real terms)
(Table 2-5-1). The plan attaches
importance to those fields which are deeply connected with the qualitative improvement
of people's living. The transport demands in fiscal 1980 are estimated to be
30% (passenger) and 40% (cargo) above the fiscal year of 1974 level. However,
the investments for the transport divisions is 31.2 trillion yen, which means
an increase of only 1.3% over the previous plan.
As before huge-scale transport facilities must be maintained and developed
to meet increasing transport demands. The qualitative improvement of transport
services must be promoted in response to the demands for qualitative development
of passenger transport and efficient cargo movement. Furthermore, transport
facilities should be developed in response to various problems and requirements
such as preventing pollution, preserving environment and securing safety etc.
It became essential to select some appropriate fields for investments in view
of the financial difficulties of the Government and local self-governing bodies,
appreciable decrease in the surplus available for equipment investments among
transport enterprises and intensifying controls with respect to space, environment
and resources etc. though with the burden of costs, of course, shared Properly.
It has already become difficult to develop large varieties of transport means.
It is time to review the transport system under new principles. In other words,
the fundamental direction of a medium-term (1975 - 1980) transport policy should
be the formation of an efficient transport System On the principle that increasing
demands should be met by improving the transport efficiency mainly by the operating
of the existing transport facilities and the efficient transport system can
be formed by each transport means taking charge of the field suitable to it's
characteristics on the base of users' free selection, by thoroughly rationalizing
its operation and promoting it's efficient operation and by securing useful
linkage among them.
Harmony and adjustments with a regional society must be specially considered
in the future in the promotion of development of facilities. Environmental preservation
and prevention of pollution must be considered fully. The assessment of environmental
effects must be enforced at the stage of planning and the study of improving
tectonics for such assessments and so on should be promoted. When development
of facilities is planned, harmony with a regional land utilization plan should
be fully considered and the opinion of related local self-governing bodies should
be accurately grasped. In addition continuous efforts should be made to give
a regional society a full understanding of the public roles of proposed facilities
and benefits which they will bring to a regional society and to obtain their
cooperation.
The Fifth Five Year Port Facilities Development program (covering 1976
- 1980) requires investment amounting to 3.1 trillion yen (150% of the preceding
program). Of the total investments projects, 2.28 trillion yen is allotted to
port and harbor development projects. The investments for the development of
international trading ports and the domestic ports at key distribution points
are given 27.2% (0.9 times as much as preceding Program in monetary value) and
11.0% (0.9 times as much as the preceding program in monetary value) of the
total investments for port and harbor development projects, respectively. Provincial
ports, ports of isolated islands and regional development ports, are given 25.2%
(twice as much as the preceding program). Measures for safety, including the
development of narrow navigation routes are given 11.4% (2.6 times as much as
the preceding program). Environmental improvement and pollution control measures
and so on are given 13.8% (18.5 times as much as the preceding program). The
investments allowed for environmental improvement and pollution control increased
at a large rate. (Fig. 2-5-2).
The Third Five Year Airport Development Program (covering 1976- 1980) requires
investments amounting to 920 billion yen (1.6 times as much as the preceding
program). Of total investments the remaining amount of 870 billions yen except
the reserve expense is comprised of 35.1% for the projects of measures for environment
around airports reflecting a substantial increase (or 7A times in monetary value)
over the preceding program ; 15.5% for the projects of developing the air safety
facilities similarly reflecting an increase (or 1.9 times in monetary value).,
while the allocation for general airports remains in the same level, and an
appreciable decrease is noted for the new international airports at 25.9% (or
0.8 time). For the general airports, the program says that the development should
be begun from airports of high priority level and according to local attitude.
The Second Five Year Coast Development program (covering 1976 - 1980) requires
investments amounting to 192.8 billions yen (investments under jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Transport). It aims to raise the rate of well equipped coasts
from the current level of 30% to about 40%. In addition it plans to promote
efficient and well-scheduled improvements of coastal environment.
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