to trunk transport networks) under a scheme of shared responsibility with local governments. For other routes, relevant financial measures are taken to enable local governments to maintain them at their own discretion.

## (4) Supporting transport to and from remote islands

To secure air transport to and from remote islands, the MLIT subsidizes airframe purchase costs, running costs and MTSAT Satellite-based Augmentation System (MSAS) receiver purchase costs and eases landing fees and aviation fuel and fixed property taxes for common air carriers serving as far as remote islands. Running costs have been subsidized since FY2011 by regional public transport securing, management and improvement projects. Passenger fares for islanders have been newly subsidized to extend the scope of support from FY2012 onward.

Remote island sea routes, a vital means of transport to support islanders' daily living, are now extremely tough to economically manage. The running costs of those sea routes that are anticipated in the red and for which no alternative routes are available are subsidized by regional public transport securing, management and improvement projects. In addition, discounted passenger fares for islanders have been subsidized and port facilities have been developed to close gaps with other regions and to add convenience to the islanders' lives.

In FY2011, 67 remote island air routes were in service, and 300 sea routes were in service at the end of FY2011 (120 of which are government-subsided sea routes).

## Section 3 Promoting Urban Reconstruction Projects, etc

## 1 Promoting Urban Reconstruction Projects

An urban reconstruction project is an action plan that combats a variety of urban issues that need to be solved in an all-out effort in cooperation and collaboration with the ministries concerned, local governments, private entities and so on. An action plan is selected if it:

① Combats a basic issue relevant to an urban structure or requires in an all-out effort of the ministries concerned to combat one, with resort to a totally new method, or

② Helps draw power from the private sector or makes for greater land mobility from a viewpoint of leading to an economic structural reform.

By the end of March 2013, 23 urban reconstruction projects had been accredited by the Urban Reconstruction Headquarters.

## Promoting Urban Development by Private Sectors

(1) Promoting urban development by private sectors based on the Specific Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Area program

While rapidly growing Asian nations have resulted in a proportionate decline in Japan’s international competitiveness, it has become an essential task to provide a powerful boost to the development of the urban areas in the nation’s major cities, a source of impetus to the national growth, in a partnership between the public and private sectors to turn them into attractive urban centers that lure businesses, human resources and more from overseas. To this end, the “Act on Special Measures concerning Urban Reconstruction” was amended in April 2011, which singled out 11 areas nationwide as “Specific Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Areas” in January 2012 to toughen urban international competitiveness. In seven of them, development plans were formulated by councils formed in a partnership between the public and private sector.

In Specific Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Areas, the MLIT supports urban development by private sectors by deregulating the private use of untapped sewage energy sources and the use of road airspaces, offering tax incentives and so on, in addition to the support measures already available to an Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Area. The International Competition Base City Development Project has also been launched to provide prioritized, concentrated support to the development of urban center infrastructures in accordance with development plans.

As of the end of March 2013, a total of 63 Urban Reconstruction Emergency Development Areas were registered in government-ordinance-designated cities and prefectural capitals, including Tokyo and Osaka, hosting a variety of urban