PrefaceOn October 1st, 2005, four highway-related public corporations in Japan were privatized andbecame six commercial companies. The Japan Expressway Holding and Debt Repayment Agency(JEHDRA) was established as an independent administrative agency.
JEHDRA plays three roles. The first one is to assure repayment within 45 years of theoutstanding debts from former public corporations as well as the debts which will be incurred fromplanned and ongoing construction projects. The second role is to keep the high levels of safety andconvenience of the expressway, which is achieved by proper and timely execution of the public
power as an agent and by cooperation with the Expressway Companies. The third role is to actively
disclose the relevant information in order to enhance transparency and accountability ofexpressway business. JEHDRA is continuing these strenuous efforts.
To fulfill these roles, JEHDRA has conducted a variety of research and, in April 2008, issued its
report on the highway and toll road system of France and Italy among leading countries in the field.
The report mainly focused on the present situation of the highway and toll road systems in thesecountries including research on such issues as investment recovery schemes, competitive bidding
terms, structure of financial balance, risk sharing systems, and incentives for appropriatemaintenance.
In September 2008, as a sequel of the above one, we published a report dealing with the same
issues in Spain and Portugal which are actively developing highway projects at present, andincluded the supplementary research on recent development in France and Italy.
Also, in December 2008, we published a report concerning “Recent Discussions of Highway
Public Private Partnerships in The United States” which includes reports by the governmentagencies and opinions of government officials translated into Japanese and some introduction of theUS Highway system.
This report is the results of a series of lectures of Prof. Vassallo of Universidad Politecnica deMadrid, and his discussions with executives of JEHDRA and Expressway companies in Japanbetween September 28 and October 5 in 2008.
Now, many countries in the world are introducing private participation in design, construction,
rehabilitation and maintenance of highway infrastructure under the scarcity of public funds.
In Europe, the concession model is becoming popular. Concession contracts have highlydeveloped and helped to realize appropriate risk-allocation, profit-sharing, toll rate control andregulation of maintenance standards.
Also with the growing and deepening of EU, its activities have significant influence on theeconomic systems and transportation policies of member nations.

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Major concession companies in Spain and other countries are acquiring competitive power andaggressively promoting diversification and international activities into Europe, North America andLatin America.
In the United States, the Federal government promotes the Public Private Partnerships inhighway infrastructure. Most recently after 2005, there have been big sensations because of leasingof existing toll roads to private concessionaire for almost 100 years with huge amount of initial
payment to the local governments. Now serious controversies are underway if these concessions arereally good for the public interest.
Prof. Vassallo is a professor of transport economics and an expert concerning the current trendof toll road in the world, not only Spain and Europe, but also other parts of the world. He has beenan adviser to the Spanish Ministry of Public works (2001-2004), European Investment Bank (2001),
and the Ministry of Public Works of Chile (1998). Also He is a member of the Committee onTaxation and Finance of the Transportation Research Board of the US. On PIARC meeting in Paris
2007, he published his paper “Risk Allocation in motorway concession contract in Spain” in which
he explained historical development of Spanish motorway concession contract and risk-allocation.
In the lectures “the Current Trend of Global Toll Road Business”, he addressed the recent
development of highway concessions in the world, regulation of quality of service, allocation of risksand activities of Spanish private companies in the international concession markets etc. In thereport, he analyzed the Japanese Toll Expressway System in the framework of the current trend ofthe Toll Road business in the world.
This report is made up of two parts. First part is his presentation of his lectures in English
and Japanese. Japanese version was translated by JEHDARA and added some explanation basedon his lecture. An executive summary in Japanese is also included.
The second part is his final report in English and Japanese which is translated by JEHDRA.

December, 2008
Japan Expressway Holding and Debt Repayment Agency

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