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(1) Changes in the Improvement of Social Overhead Capital
(Improvement of Social Overhead Capital at Several Stages)
1) 1970s
In the early 1970s, which was the last stage of the period of high economic
growth, investment in transport-related social overhead capital (railways, ports
and harbors, airports and roads) was continued as vigorously as in the 1960s.
Recommendations submitted in July 1971 by the Council for Transport Policy pointed
out a need to cope appropriately with a possible phenomenal increase in future
demand for transport against a backdrop of high economic growth and to form,
at the same time, transport systems from a comprehensive standpoint in response
to demand for the nationwide expansion of national land development possibilities.
However, the Japanese economy rapidly shifted to a moderate growth curve as
a result of the first oil crisis which started in October 1973. As a consequence,
investments in transport-related social overhead capital for fiscal 1973 and
1974 decreased dramatically. In and after fiscal 1975, the government accelerated
public spending by issuing deficit-covering national bounds as part of reflationary
measures, with the result that investments in social overhead capital for fiscal
1976 to fiscal 1978 registered increases over each preceding fiscal year.
2) 1980s
When the 1980s set in, the reconstruction of public finances to cope with
increasing dependence on national bond issues, an increase in outstanding national
bonds, etc. became a serious policy matter. In the first half of the 1980s,
investments in transport-related social overhead capital continued to slacken,
partly affected by curbs on public investment and also by the reconstruction
of National Railways finances, with the result that such investments registered
either decreases or a low rate of increase compared with the previous fiscal
year. Recommendations submitted in July 1981 by the Council for Transport Policy
suggested that investment in transport-related social overhead capital be made
in a manner adapted to a shift from a high to a moderate economic growth curve,
and, at the same time, on a priority and efficiency basis. Obviously, the recommendations
reflected tangibly the impact of a basic policy in terms of the reconstruction
of finances. In the latter half of the 1980s, the need for public investment
was emphasized from the standpoint of coping with a "recession" caused by the
appreciation of the yen against the dollar and shifting to the domestic demand-led
economy to rectify external disequilibrium. As a consequence, investments in
transport-related social overhead capital ran at a high level except for the
railways (Fig. 1).
(Relative Low Growth of Railway and Port and Harbor Stocks)
A look at the extent to which investment in transport-related social overhead
capital is stocks (asset accumulations) shows that the amount of transport-related
social overhead capital stocks is consistently on the increase but that its
ratio to social overhead capital stocks as a whole has continued to decrease
since the 1970s. The reason is the low increase rate of railway and port and
harbor stocks compared with other social overhead capitals. This forms a major
factor making the shortage of transport-related social overhead capital, notably
railways. On the other hand, investments in airports have registered extremely
high growth in response to increasing air transport needs (Fig.
2, Fig. 3).
(Global Trends in the Construction of Highspeed Railways)
A look at the international behavior of transport-related social overhead
capital shows a pronounced global trend toward the construction of highspeed
railways. In addition to the success of Japan's Shinkansen and France's TGV,
there has been understanding of the need to promote a shift to mass transport
systems because of factors such as the increased awareness of energy-saving
as a result of the emergence of environmental problems stemming from automobile
traffic and the oil shock, and against a backdrop of rising highspeed-orientedness
resulting from the improvement of the national income level. Under these circumstances,
an era of highspeed railways has arrived in various countries of the world,
including France and Germany. In Japan, the maximum speed of trunk lines other
than the Shinkansen is still 130 km/h on local lines, including the Hakodate
Line. Hence there is a need to form a highspeed railway network by vigorously
pushing ahead with highspeed on conventional lines as well as the Shinkansen,
lest Japan should remain behind the prevailing global trend toward the construction
of highspeed railways (Table 1).
(2) Environmental Changes Surrounding the Improvement of Transport-Related
Social Overhead Capital and Basic Future Direction
(Need to Improve Transport-Related Social Overhead Capital with Environmental
Changes in Mind)
Improvement of transport-related social overhead capital requires enormous
funds and a long period, hence there is a need to promote such improvement in
long-term perspectives, and most of these social overhead capitals have been
improved in accordance with long-term plans. In improvement transport-related
social overhead capital, it is important to precisely grasp the present status
of the needs of the people and industries, and outlook on the future, and to
provide facilities accordingly. In particular, there is a need to forge ahead
with the improvement of transport-related social overhead capital with environmental
changes taken into consideration such as the progress of uniconcentration in
Tokyo in recent years, the sophistication and diversification of the needs of
users, internationalization and globalization.
(Basic Future Direction of the Improvement of Transport-Related Social Overhead
Capital)
1) Balanced Development of Regional Economies and Multipolarization
Multipolarization of national land will be promoted in order to rectify
the present uniconcentration in Tokyo and to achieve the balanced development
of Japan's regional economies. To this end, highspeed traffic systems will be
introduced to step up links between major cities in the country, including key
local cities and nucleus cities, in a bid to promote the expansion of nationwide
one-day traffic ranges (Fig. 4).
With regard to railways, the construction of new railways along the line
of basic schemes for the construction of New Shinkansen Lines, through the use
of Shinkansen and existing lines, improvement of connecting operations and highspeed
operations of existing lines will be accelerated by giving full scope to the
characteristics of middle-distance mass transport systems. At the same time,
trunk lines will be built to link the metropolitan region with key local cities
and principal local nucleus cities by stepping up the transportation capacities
of existing lines (Fig. 5)
As regards airports, the improvement of nationwide networks, including the
construction of plural airports in two major urban regions - Tokyo and Osaka,
the upgrading and diversification of networks centered on key local airports
will be promoted (Fig. 6).
There is also a need to build transport networks in order to facilitate
access to those highspeed transport facilities and to promote regional integration.
As for ports and harbors, emphasis will be placed on the formation of physical
distribution, passenger transport, marinas and information networks and on the
strengthening of mutual connections of ports and harbors. At the same time,
efforts will be made to revitalize regional activities by upgrading the functions
of ports and harbors which are vitally associated with physical distribution,
industries and lifestyle.
2) How to Address the Problems of the Metropolitan Region
The living environment, including traffic and housing, and urban functions
in the Metropolitan Region have not greatly improved but are worsening as a
result of uniconcentration, and the shortage of transport-related social overhead
capital is becoming conspicuous (Fig.
7).
In order to improve severe congestion on urban railway lines in these circumstances,
drastic measures to step up transportation capacities, including the construction
of new lines and quadrupling of existing lines, will be promoted, while transportation
capacities will also be improved by operating trains made up of many cars, extending
and expanding platforms, and operating trains at shorter intervals. In addition,
as part of the solutions to housing problems, the construction of railways will
be promoted in line with the development of housing lots.
In regard to ports and harbors, the construction of trunk dock roads to
speed up the transport of distribution goods, the construction of green belts
to improve the living environment, and the construction of refuge disposal sites
in sea areas to cope with increases in the volume of household and industrial
wastes will be promoted.
3) Qualitative Improvement of National Life
High-quality transport services have become imperative with the movement
of people assuming wide-area dimensions as a result of an improvement in their
living standard (Fig. 8), hence
there is a need to ensure the nationwide development of highspeed transport
systems, including trunk railway lines and airports.
It is also necessary to build new highspeed transport systems in terms of
tourist infrastructures, in view of the increasing and more sophisticated needs
of tourism occasioned by an increase of spare time.
With respect to railways, in addition to building new lines, including subways,
and quadrupling existing lines, the mutual use of tracks by different railway
companies (Fig. 9), airconditioning
of train cars (Fig. 10), etc. will
be promoted from the standpoint of increasing the comfort and convenience of
railway services. In addition, the provision of escalators and elimination of
differences in staircase levels (introduction of sloping staircases) at railway
stations will be promoted to make their use more convenient for aged and physically
handicapped passengers. In this way, attention will be paid to passengers so
that transport facilities may be utilized comfortably and in safety to cope
with the aging of the population which is expected to become more progressive
from now on (Fig. 11).
With respect to ports and harbors, the construction of green belts, coasts,
terminals for passenger vessels will be promoted, and the creation of comprehensive
port and harbor space will be promoted by utilizing and conserving historical
ports and harbors facilities, furthermore the improvement of ports and harbors
for living will be promoted, in order to create affluent waterfront areas.
4) How to Cope With Progress in Internationalization
Japan is strongly urged to build arenas for international exchanges in amanner
appropriate to its status, as a result of the globalization of Japan's economic
society and Japan's increasing presence in international society. Moreover,
Asian NIES and ASEAN countries have achieved rapid economic development in recent
years, remarkably improving their status in world economies. Viewed in this
context, it has become imperative for Japan to promote exchanges with those
neighboring countries from the standpoint of forging ahead with the internationalization
and revitalization of various regions in the country, and also to promote the
multipolarization of national land (Fig.
12).
To achieve this end, the construction of international hub airports (New
Tokyo International Airport and Kansai International Airport), which will serve
as gateways to Japan and East Asia, will be promoted. At the same time, airports
(Shin-Chitose, Nagoya and Fukuoka) in major urban regions after the Tokyo and
Osaka areas will be upgraded to become key part of air transport network and
also to serve as by-direction gateways to Japan. With regard to other regional
blocs, networks will be formed to promote local international exchanges and
relevant facilities will be built centering around key local airports.
With respect to physical distribution, the construction of import-related
infrastructures, including airport facilities and container terminals for foreign
trade, will be promoted in order to ensure the smooth distribution of imported
goods by coping with an ever-increasing demand for transport.
(Problems of Financial Resources)
Social overhead capital, designed to serve the interests of the people,
has been traditionally developed mainly through public investment, but in order
to meet the sophisticated and diversified needs of users, it is also important
to vigorously exploit private-sector vitality.
However, it is impossible to fully consign to the private sector the construction
of infrastructures which involve the installation of gigantic fixed facilities
and which is expected to create deficits for many years to come. In particular,
it is important to invest a great deal, from a national standpoint, in the construction
of trunk railway lines, including New Shinkansen Lines which will play a key
role in the multipolarization of national land which is in strong national demand.
Hence it is extremely difficult to expect only Japan Railways Company (JR),
which is a private enterprise, to undertake the construction of New Shinkansen
Lines. There is, therefore, a need for the national government to study the
possibility of not only expanding the financial resources it presently possesses
but also securing a new source of public revenue.
In addition, recent soaring land prices and the difficulty of land acquisition
are making it increasingly difficult financially for private enterprises alone
to build new railways in the metropolitan region. Hence it has become imperative
to pass onto the public profits of development at both national and local levels
and also to expand financial resources with low cost of funds.
The construction of airports is currently progressing under the special
accounts system, but 80 percent of the financial resources involved are burdened
by users. Because of this, future financial resources need to be secured with
greater attention paid to fair burden sharing by present and future users.
With respect to ports and harbors, not only public investment but also the
introduction of private-sector vitality should be promoted more vigorously from
now on. At the same time, in case facilities are built in a manner which induces
development profits, there is a need to study the diversification of construction
funds, including the introduction of measures to pass development profits onto
the public (Fig. 13).
Progress in excessive uniconcentration in the metropolitan region is making
it increasingly difficult with each passing year to secure land space for social
overhead capital. In recent years, in particular, dramatic increases in land
prices have added to the difficulty of smooth land acquisition, with the result
that the construction of facilities has taken much more time and that the costs
involved have increased considerably, making effective investments difficult
(Table 2). Therefore, in order to upgrade social overhead capital systematically
and effectively, it is indispensable to stabilize land prices and enable smooth
land acquisition. And to this end, there is a need to promote the multipolarization
of national land.
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