Ministry of Land, Infrastrucutre and Transport
The 5th Comprehensive National Development Plan "Grand Design for the 21st Century"

PART I

Basis of the Planned National Land Development

Chapter III

Implementation

Section 1
National land development based on "participation and cooperation"

To carry out regional development that is unique and attractive, it is important that residents, volunteer organizations, private companies and other entities fully participate in the process. This range of different participants will supplement the administrative services in fields in which the administration is unable to provide sufficient services, and will lead to more detailed and more effective administrative services that can respond to a whole range of demands.

With the decreasing population and the aging of society and in midst of intensification of inter-regional competition beyond national boundaries, it is important to have a wide vision that is beyond the framework of existing administrative units. This kind of vision is a requisite for responding to people's wide-ranging demands, including land management, and for developing well-developed and independent regional communities. The government needs to implement its policies based on such a vision, and supported by autonomous cooperation between the regions concerned. Such inter-regional cooperation will create new development opportunities, raise the level of regional services, create more efficient regional infrastructures, and will contribute to the solution of wide-area problems involving multiple regions.

This plan makes "participation and cooperation" the basis for national and regional development.

1.Role-sharing between the different entities

National land development based on "participation and cooperation" makes it essential for public and private entities to share roles. It is also essential for public entities, specifically national and local governments, to share their various roles.

For role-sharing between public and private entities, the public entities should in principle be responsible for proposing national and regional development plans that incorporate the opinion of the general public whenever possible, and should be responsible for coordinating those plans and establishing the institutional systems for the development. Private entities should in principle participate in the national and regional development process of their own initiative. The national government and local public entities will be responsible for improving the infrastructure, and services that private entities are not able to provide to a sufficient level, either qualitatively or quantitatively. However, the roles of the national government and local governments should be minimized.

For role-sharing between public entities, the national government will carry out improvements to the key infrastructure, supporting "participation and cooperation" from a national level. It will also collect information from each region and provide it to other regions. The national government will in this way support inter-regional cooperation based around the concept of serving a wide area. The municipal governments, including prefectures, cities, towns and villages, will support, coordinate, and make use of the participation of different entities in regional development from a regional perspective, and will play the leading roles in inter-regional cooperation.

The financial burdens of promoting national and regional development should be shared properly and equally between present and future generations. Working on the concept that those who benefit should bear the cost, the burden of each development project will be shared between public and private entities and between central and local governments.

2. Encouraging the participation of different entities

It is essential to implement the following measures to encourage different entities to participate in national and regional development under their own responsibility.

(Disclosure of basic information to encourage people to participate)

To enable citizens to participate aggressively in regional development, they need access to key information, which will provide the basis for their decision on what activities they can participate in and how they can participate in them. It is therefore necessary to establish a system of extensive disclosure for both the national and local governments, to provide administrative information on land development, and to arrange for citizens to have easy access to the information. Objectivity and transparency in the decision-making process regarding improvement of the country's infrastructure should be maintained by disclosing the criteria used for deciding on infrastructure investment projects and the information on cost-effectiveness analyses.

Furthermore, based on the need for citizens to take the lead in environmental protection including restricting emissions of carbon dioxide, the national government and local public entities should aggressively disclose information on how individual citizens can become involved in environmental protection. They also need to make available measures to help citizens deepen their understanding of the importance of environmental protection, including public relation activities.

(Utilization of private sector know-how and capital)

Promote deregulation to encourage the participation of private entities while carrying out aggressive administrative reform, in order to make the best use of private sector know-how and capital in improving the national infrastructure and in providing services to citizens. Also study methods used to promote projects that utilize private sector know-how and capital.

For volunteer and NPO activities that could be major routes for citizens to participate in regional development, implement measures in cooperation with related organizations to give them further support, by introducing a volunteer vacation system, or by incorporating NPOs or volunteer organizations.

(Aggressive decentralization)

In order for each region to develop itself around its own choices and responsibilities with the enthusiastic support of its citizens, it is indispensable for each local public entity to have sufficient authority and financial resources to implement projects geared towards regional development. To achieve this, study and successively implement measures that enable each local public entity to take leadership in improving the regional infrastructure. Specifically, decentralize, give more power to local public entities with regard to regional development and the provision of services for citizens, ensure that they have sufficient overall financial resources, streamline subsidies, and reduce the involvement of the national government in local issues.

(Establishing systems that enable citizens to participate in and reach consensus on developing their region)

In response to the increasing interest that citizens are showing in participating in regional development, it is important that local public entities establish their own systems to enable citizens to participate in and reach consensus on developing their region. Especially with regard to land use and improvements to the infrastructure in the course of regional development, the national government and local public entities should, from the planning stage, establish systems to gather opinions from as many citizens as possible. To encourage citizens to participate in the process of regional development with responsibility, it is also necessary to establish systems that provide them with information on the expected effects of infrastructural investment, the funds required, and how they are shared, the expected influence on the environment, and the regional disaster risks.

3.Cooperation between regions

In order to promote cooperation between regions, it is fundamentally important to help citizens to understand the importance of exchanges, mutual understanding, and links and cooperation between regions. It is thus necessary for national government to make supportive measures, taking in consideration the following views.

(Recognizing the importance of cooperation and forming the proper entities)

To encourage each region to make aggressive efforts to cooperate with other regions, implement exchange projects between citizens of different regions to help them to recognize the importance of inter-regional cooperation, and establish facilities for inter-regional use. It is expected that these measures will help in building cooperation between regions.

It is important to form the proper entities to implement projects that center on creating nature-rich residential areas and to make progress in inter-regional cooperation, including the development of regional cooperation corridors. To form these entities, make use of existing extended administrative systems including wide-area federations and certain of the administrative cooperatives. Also study measures to support organizations, including councils that can become entities for inter-regional cooperation. To make inter-regional cooperation more effective, encourage cities, towns, and villages that are basic local public entities to voluntarily merge into single entities.

(Governmental support for inter-regional cooperation)

The national government will support and encourage cooperation between numerous regions beyond the existing administrative districts while aggressively promoting decentralization in order to make inter-regional cooperation really effective. The government will organize and spread measures and projects for inter-regional cooperation based on the efforts of each autonomous region, especially for those regions that are leading the formation of regional cooperation corridors and the creation of nature-rich residential areas. The national government needs to make specific plans to give support to regions, including improvements to the basic infrastructure and assistance on joint projects that are the result of plans made jointly by several local public entities. As part of such plans, the government will provide basic information for interregional cooperation and exchange and give advice to local public entities. Furthermore, measures will be studied to make the contacts and coordination between the national government and local public entities smoother.

Section 2
Schedule for attracting investment in the country's infrastructure

For this plan to attain its objectives, it is necessary to improve the national infrastructure based on the concept of consistent and well-balanced national land development. Investment in the country's new infrastructure for the coming century should be encouraged, keeping in mind the great situational changes that are now under way as explained below.

1)It is necessary to improve the country's infrastructure steadily and in a planned manner to respond to the remarkable changes in the socioeconomic structure that will be made beyond the target period of this plan. Such changes include changes in people's ways of thinking (giving more importance to leisure, comfort and the natural environment) and the high possibility of a decrease in the population.

2)Investment in the infrastructure should be associated with fiscal structural reform, and should survive the long-term decrease in investment potential.

3)Although past policies have contributed to a mitigation of regional differences in incomes, new regional problems have appeared, including the difficulty in maintaining regional communities in many of the hilly areas, and the loss of regional characteristics that has led to national uniformity.

The future investments in the country's infrastructure should be truly effective, based on the clear recognition that financial resources are limited. In every field, limited funds should be utilized effectively to attain the objectives of each policy in the light of the present severe fiscal situation, the long-term decrease in investment potential, and the advent of a mature society with a decrease in population. Anticipating future increases in investment for maintaining and improving the existing infrastructure, it is also necessary to keep a balance between investment for improvements and new investment.

First of all, investments in the country's infrastructure should be made from a long-term viewpoint that gives importance to infrastructural improvements that can respond to great changes in the socioeconomic structure as set out in the basic plan for public investments made in June 1997. The basic plan aims at establishing the overall social capital by the beginning of the 21st century. This kind of investments should be made in an effective, well-focused and efficient manner, by taking measures that are effective and that include putting to use the existing infrastructure.

Second, adequate investment should be made based on regional characteristics. This plan aims at developing Japan into a country that encompasses diversity in its unique regional structure. It is therefore necessary to promote well-focused, efficient and effective investment, taking into consideration the different natural and socioeconomic conditions of each region, towards the development of unique regions.

Third, consistent efforts should be made beyond the target period of this plan to secure investment for future generations and to establish new investment concepts. The target period is to be used to build the basis for attainment of the long-term objectives, and efforts should be made to effectively tackle the decrease in population and of investment potential that will continue through the end of the target period and beyond.

1.Efficient and well-focused investment in the infrastructure

(1) Well-focused investment in the infrastructure

(Infrastructural investment that helps to fulfill the objectives of this plan)

Since the Meiji era, the focus of investment in Japan's infrastructure has moved in response to the needs of the age. This plan, made at the turning point of the century, has basic and specific objectives that include the promotion of regional independence and the creation of well-founded regional communities. These are objectives that should be tackled during the target period to respond to great changes in the socioeconomic structure. They will be achieved by making essential investments in the infrastructure, and by taking effective measures. Taking the long-term view, investment that focuses on improving the infrastructure will be encouraged in order to reach the objectives set out in Chapter II of this plan.

The focus of public investment that has been made in the field to contribute to improvements in people's living standards and to economic structural reform is the same focus as that of infrastructural investment. Promoting public investment will lead to achieving the objectives set out in this plan.

(Infrastructural investment that will contribute to these strategies)

In order to attain these basic objectives, it will be particularly effective for multiple local public entities to cooperate with the national government, etc. to develop strategies based on the autonomous decisions of each region. On the regional scale, infrastructural investment should be made for the following purposes: to protect the rich natural environment and land for the creation of nature-rich residential areas; to improve basic living standards for regional independence; to raise the level of industries by the use of regional resources; to drastically restructure urban areas, strengthen disaster preparedness, restore and preserve the environment and raise the level of industries. On a countrywide scale, the national government, local public entities, and the private sector should make comprehensive efforts to promote investments in the infrastructure that will contribute to the formation of transportation and information and communications systems, and to create international spheres of interaction on a large scale towards the further development of regional cooperation corridors and the creation of international spheres of interaction.

(2)Efficient investment in the infrastructure

(Promoting cooperative investment)

For efficient investment in the country's infrastructure, it is necessary for the ministries engaged in infrastructural improvement and local public entities to cooperate effectively. The national government will strengthen cooperation between investment projects beyond the boundaries of the ministerial organizations, to enable a comprehensive response to national problems related to carbon dioxide emissions, logistics, disaster preparedness etc., and to allow similar projects to be combined for greater efficiency. For this purpose, a full-scale coordination system should be established to achieve smooth adjustment of measures between administrative entities, to give flexibility in the adjustment of different long-term infrastructure improvement projects, and to further cooperation between the entities. As part of the coordination system, a budget will be established for adjusting comprehensive national development projects. Local public entities will be expected to pursue efficient investment in improving the national infrastructure in cooperation with other local public entities, freed from the obsession of comprehensive construction of facilities by a single entity.

Establish the coordination system for infrastructural investment between the national government and local public entities, and inside local public entities, in order for each region to decide its own course and budget for development with national government support.

(Reducing construction costs)

One of the most important elements for efficient investment is to reduce construction costs that are higher than equivalent costs in other countries, and to make investment in the infrastructure within a limited budget more efficient. It will, however, be difficult to reduce construction costs, because of numerous obstructing factors that include severe natural conditions, Japan's high-cost structure with high manpower costs and prices, the established system of making and receiving orders, productivity in the construction industry, and complicating rights including property rights. Reductions must therefore be made by following the objectives set out in the guidelines for reducing the cost of public works laid down in April 1997. The objective is to reduce the cost of public works by at least 10%. Lower costs by reducing material costs, improving productivity by increased mechanization, deregulating the implementation of projects, developing and smoothing the introduction of new cost-saving technologies, utilizing competition in the bidding process, and properly controlling building standards according to the circumstances in each region. In the course of fully implementing these measures, review them as appropriate when necessary. Also to reduce the cost of acquiring land, further study the feasibility of using technologies for deep underground construction.

In accordance with the increase in facilities, it will also become important to reduce total costs, including the maintenance and improvement costs, and to construct facilities that are easy to maintain and improve. To enable this to be done, select structures that have low life cycle costs, including maintenance costs, and encourage development of technologies that will contribute to efficient and economical maintenance and improvement of these structures.

(Effective use of existing infrastructure)

Secure the funds needed to properly maintain and improve the existing infrastructure, emphasizing the remarkable growth this far. Make maintenance and management of the existing infrastructure more efficient by using information and communications systems. In addition, when establishing new facilities, make full use of the existing infrastructure.

Improve out-of-date facilities and encourage full use of facilities that are not being fully used. Develop methods to evaluate the structures of the existing facilities and develop technologies to improve facilities. Extend the use of existing schools, police boxes (koban) and post offices within each community to provide residents with welfare facilities for the elderly, disaster centers and information networks. At the same time, plant more green belts and make use of land that is not fully used, channels and canals. These measures will actually reduce the amount of new infrastructural investment needed.

To make use of the existing infrastructure effective, also introduce systems such as traffic demands management (TDM) in large cities to relieve traffic congestion, and introduce intelligent traffic systems (ITS). Provide people with more opportunities to use the country's infrastructure without new infrastructural investment by the following measures: adjust timetables between different transportation systems to make it more convenient for commuters; and expand opening hours for sports facilities and the areas they cover. Study institutional measures to make the use of public facilities more flexible, overcoming restrictions related to property rights, and encouraging public facilities to entrust their management to private entities.

(Investment based on objective evaluations that include cost-effectiveness analyses)

Before making new infrastructural investment, it is necessary to confirm the need for the investment, and to make it truly effective. With this in mind, carry out objective evaluations that include a cost-effectiveness analysis for each investment project, and decide the investment priorities in order to make the investment well-focused and efficient. This kind of evaluation will enable the national government and local public entities make new investments effective from the outset. To avoid inflexibility in implementing projects, confirm the suitability and effectiveness of investment projects where appropriate, and take proper measures based on the results. Especially with projects where some time has passed since the decision was made to go ahead with the project, reexamine those that have not yet started, or ones that are to be implemented over a long period. Revise the project where this seems necessary, based on the results of the examination.

Fully disclose all procedures and data on cost-effectiveness analyses and examinations to the general public to ensure transparency.

(Promoting investment in the infrastructure by the private sector)

It is expected that by entrusting parts or all of infrastructural investment projects that have traditionally been conducted by public entities to private entities that are run on a principle of competition, the projects will become more effective at lower costs. For future infrastructural improvement, utilize the power of the private sector in investment fields dominated by public entities, as has been done in other countries; for example, in the UK's Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

2.Effective investment in an infrastructure based on regional characteristics

(Investment for unique regional development)

In order to develop Japan into a country of diversified regions, it is important for each region to take the initiative and compete in developing itself into a unique region based on its natural and social characteristics.

This kind of regional development necessitates the following measures. First, give regions equal opportunities that include, within certain conditions, improving the country's infrastructure to assist in regional independence. Focus investment on the facilities, including centers and access points, that play important roles in mitigating regional differences, and that provide access to facilities that improve the standard of living and make advanced urban facilities available to more people.

Next, respect regional needs so that each region can take the initiative in regional development. Promote decentralization to allow each region to be responsible for developing as it wishes, and make consistent efforts to streamline subsidies and ensure local sources for the necessary revenue. Furthermore, put into effect a wide range of measures related to investment in the infrastructure, including the following. Establish a full-scale system that enables local public entities to choose which projects subsidized by the national government they want to adopt. Make building standards for facilities more flexible, so that each region can construct facilities suited to local conditions and designs. Projects implemented by the national government must have stronger regional representation during planning.

Moreover, invest in strategic measures for regions that have many problems, and make consistent investment in the infrastructure to create nature-rich residential areas comprised of large and small towns and hilly areas, as well as in the infrastructure needed to revitalize large city areas.

(Promoting investment that is in harmony with the existing regional infrastructure)

Each region already has a wealth of facilities, and it is important to promote planned investment in regions that makes effective use of the existing infrastructure. In particular, transportation and information and communications systems have contributed to the extensive use of facilities beyond municipal or prefectural boundaries. By developing regional cooperation corridors, encourage regions to utilize each other's existing facilities. Before building new infrastructure, examine the possibility of reusing existing facilities from a wide-area view, and plan investment on the assumption that the facilities will be used from a wide area of interregional cooperation.

3.Effective investment in the infrastructure for future generations

(Investment for developing new technologies)

Invest in the development and application of new technologies that are indispensable for Japan to achieve growth. Always ensure that thorough studies have been made at the research and development stage, and make extensive use of information and communications technologies to disseminate the R&D results effectively. Carry out R&D on the following and put them into practical use:

1)Transportation and information and communications technologies that will provide new possibilities for 21st century Japan, including superconducting magnetic levitated railway systems, ITS, TSL (techno super liner), new logistics systems, and optical communications systems

2)Technologies that will contribute to a reduction in the environmental load, including low-emission cars, new energy sources, energy-saving technology, and recycling of waste

3)Technologies for urban disaster preparedness and environmental improvement, for environmental and productivity improvements involving living creatures and biotechnology, and technologies that facilitate coexistence with nature and effective use of land, such as the construction of super-large floating structures in the ocean

At the same time, carry out R&D on new transportation systems that can respond to quantitative and qualitative changes in the demand structure caused by aging and decreases in the population, and on waste water treatment technologies. To ensure that investment is effective, carry out detailed evaluation of the research results.

(Investment in the country's infrastructure putting the emphasis on new perspectives)

It is also important to make infrastructural investment with an emphasis on new perspectives to respond to the great changes that will occur in the socioeconomic structure. To counter the decrease in investment potential, focus on improving efficiency in use of the infrastructure, including the provision of extremely safe, extended service life, and ability to function in emergency situation. Also focus on users and coexistence with nature, including easy access, blending in with local scenery, contact with nature, and contribution to environmental restoration and conservation. In the progress of globalization, it is also important to invest to improve the level of facilities that are on a scale and with functions below international standard, so that infrastructural improvement coordinates with the plans of other countries and fits in with international standards.

(Comprehensive examination of methods to ensure effective investment in the infrastructure)

In order to offset the effects of the long-term decrease in investment potential, make consistent efforts to ensure that investment in the country's infrastructure is effective. As parts of such efforts, examine methods for objective evaluation of effectiveness, including cost-effectiveness analyses and the most suitable evaluation systems. Examination should be carried out as dictated by the characteristics of individual investment projects. Furthermore, comprehensively examine methods of analyzing the cost-effectiveness, something that has yet to be clearly established. For example, technical methods that are common to several investment projects, methods to evaluate multiple projects, and methods to measure environmental values and differences in regional conditions. Examination is also necessary for the best way to use the evaluation results after completion of a project in order to feedback correctly to the evaluation.

As the residents of each region will be the beneficiaries of the development, it is they who must make their own decisions on the benefits and responsibilities of developing their regions in the way that they want, keeping in mind concerns that fiscal restrictions will become more severe with the progressive aging of society and the decreasing birthrate. Conduct studies to ensure that the burden of investment in the infrastructure in each region is shared appropriately between regions, based on the expected mid-term and long-term benefits.

Section 3
Improving institutions and the social system

1.Making the plan effective

Implementation of the plan should be made as effective as possible with the participation of numerous entities. In particular, the national government will as soon as possible set out guidelines for implementing the following four strategies (indicated below) based on "participation and cooperation," and clearly indicate specific measures to make them effective, taking into account the opinions of the separate regions and local public entities, and various private entities. The four strategies are: creation of nature-rich residential areas, renovation of large cities, formation of regional cooperation corridors, and formation of international spheres of interaction on a large scale.

In implementing the specific objectives set out in this plan, flexible measures are necessary that can respond to future situational changes and the progress of reforms now under way while still keeping to the basic points in the objectives. The National Land Development Council will check the progress of the plan every year, and will make proposals to related administrative agencies to promote the plan, while paying careful attention to the implementation of the related measures in each region and to the general public's opinion of the plan.

Steady improvement of Japan's infrastructure will serve as the basis to develop it into a country with the structure we envisage. The improvements will proceed with close cooperation and coordination between this plan and other infrastructure-related long-term plans. As the plan proceeds there will be coordination between land use plans and infrastructure development projects, and also between the various development projects. Furthermore to give environmental considerations due priority, improvements to the infrastructure will run in parallel with a variety of environmental conservation plans, carried out after proper environmental assessment.

The Fourth Comprehensive National Development Plan aims at multipolar national land development (establishing multiple regional centers within the country). Multipolar national land development should be regarded as one step in the long-term process of giving the country a multiaxial structure. Effective use of existing measures will be made in implementing the plan, including plans that are based on the Act for Multipolar Development of the Country.

The plan will be comprehensively reviewed and modified as necessary in the light of any changes in the situation and progress in administrative and fiscal reform.

Development plans should also be made for the Northern Territories as part of this country. However, special circumstances prevail at the present. When related problems have been solved, this plan needs to be urgently revised to show the basic direction of the comprehensive development of these Territories.

2.Links with other measures related to land use

For regions to develop in their own individual attractive way based on the strategies and measures set out in this plan, including the creation of nature-rich residential areas and renovation of metropolitan areas within the target period in order to restructure the country in a form suitable for the 21st century, it is necessary to strengthen links with other measures related to land use. These measures will be closely associated with regional development in terms of conservation of land and natural environment, restructuring of urban structures, and the provision of attractive amenities.

(Links with land-use policies)

Based on the concept of making use of owned land, make links with the comprehensive land-use measures described in the "Outline of the Introduction of New Comprehensive Land-use Policies" formulated by the Cabinet on February 10, 1997. Through these links, ensure the proper use of land to build comfortable houses and to improve the social capital, as well as to build quite restful regional communities that adapt themselves to the natural system. Improve the urban structure, especially in the existing metropolitan areas, and encourage the use of land that is not fully utilized, rebuild areas where old wooden houses are built close together to make them safe against disasters, and encourage people to live in urban centers. These measures will all lead to effective use of land.

(Well-balanced land-use plans in line with this plan)

Local public entities are expected to make well-balanced land-use plans in line with this plan with the following objectives.

1)Provide residents with more benefits and welfare by improving the social infrastructure

2)Build facilities, provide open space, and make regional classifications to make the regions safe and comfortable

3)Conserve the natural environment to give residents the opportunity to come in contact with nature, and to preserve the environment for future generations

4)Develop regions into attractive communities full of amenities

5)Improve the urban structure to provide residents with increased urban functions

6)Establish an industrial infrastructure to support the regional economy

In order to create areas of production and residential areas that are integrated into rural communities, plans related to land use, including national land-use plans, must be made use of, and management of these plans needs to be improved. The national government needs to help local public entities make suitable land-use plans by carrying out the following measures.

1)Improve the system for smoothly coordinating the numerous plans related to land use.

2)Improve the system for collecting and providing information and for giving technical support.

3.Informatization of the national land administration

With the advent of the age of information, many entities have accumulated, and are using, information about land. The accumulated information will be useful not only for administrative planning and implementation by public entities, but also for private companies and the general public as the basis for their actions and daily lives in today's information society.

Improve the level of the national land administration and make it more efficient by further automation, including computerization of information that is used as the basis for national land policies and studies. In addition, the national government and local public entities will cooperate to establish common standards and rules to improve and utilize land-related information, will build a database of land-related information and will make efforts to allow wide access to the database.

In addition, disclose to the public basic land-related information accumulated by the national government or by local public entities in forms that are easy to use and process, to establish a basis for surveying people's opinions when planning and examining national land policies. Aggressive disclosure of land-related information through the media might also lead to the creation of new industries.

4.Establishing a new national land planning system

The present national land planning system was established through the enactment of the Comprehensive National Land Development Act of 1950, numerous relevant laws and ordinances, legislated especially from 1955 to 1965, and the National Land Use Planning Act of 1974. In response to demands for clarification of the philosophy of national land planning, and to the need for diverse reforms including decentralization and administrative reforms, it is necessary to drastically review the Comprehensive National Land Development Act and the National Land Use Planning Act and establish a new national land planning system that can meet the demands of the 21st century. The details are explained below.

(National land planning philosophy)

National land planning embraces a wide range of concepts, not only related to development, but also to the conservation and appropriate use of land. It is therefore necessary to make clear definitions of these concepts in developing a comprehensive national land planning philosophy to promote national land development for the 21st century in response to people's diversifying values and changes in the socioeconomic situation.

(Taking a range of reforms into considerations)

Taking into considerations a range of reforms, including decentralization and administrative reform, clarify the positioning and roles of national plans and regional plans in national land planning, and improve planning procedures to reflect the opinions of different entities.

(Clear direction)

From the standpoint of well-focused and efficient improvement of the country's infrastructure and development of the country based on regional needs, make national land planning effective in relation to other plans related to national land development, use and conservation.

Planning systems under individual laws on regional development need to be reconsidered in response to new policy issues caused by the changes in the times, although they have different purposes and objectives. Future discussions should be held on the role of the systems, clarifying the new national land planning philosophy and system.

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