Japan privatized four expressway public corporations Saturday, under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform to transfer as many public sector operations to the private sector as possible.

The Japan Highway Public Corp. was split into three regional companies, while the other three -- the Metropolitan Expressway Public Corp., Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. and Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority -- were kept intact as private companies.

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the six companies, whose shares are currently all held by the state and local authorities, are tasked primarily to manage expressways and collect tolls.

Although tolls remain unchanged after privatization, the new companies in charge of the Tokyo and Osaka regions introduced Saturday discounts of up to 20 percent for users of the ETC electronic toll collection system.

The six private companies, all headed by people from the private sector, will conclude agreements with a new independent administrative agency -- also inaugurated Saturday to manage assets and debts from the four privatized public entities -- by next March on new expressway construction projects and expressway leasing.

The government's expressway construction plan calls for building 9,342 kilometers of expressways in Japan. About 2,000 km have yet to be built.

Source: Xinhua