be developed by municipalities

In accordance with the abolition of Strategic Grant for Regional Autonomy, the subsidization program to support regional social infrastructure development has been restructured from a viewpoint of addressing policy issues through collaboration between central and local governments; in addition to existing Comprehensive Grant for Social Infrastructure Improvement, Comprehensive Grant for Disaster Prevention and Safety has been established, which provide intensive support to the efforts directed at restructuring infrastructures (measures for aging social infrastructure, disaster prevention and disaster mitigation) to preserve the lives and livelihood of local residents and securing safety in living spaces.

## Driving Public-Private Partnership, etc

The formation of a new scheme of PPP (Public-Private Partnership)/PFI and concrete proposals is promoted to develop, maintain and manage social infrastructures of real need by expanding the utilization of private funds under stringent financial conditions. Further, the preparation of PPP/PFI project proposals pertaining to the restoration of the areas stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake is being propelled.

Proposals that had been filed as a means of driving the implementation of public-private partnership projects were compiled into agenda of deliberation to explore ways to utilize the system of management for public facilities, etc.

A total of 21 innovative public-private partnership support projects were adopted and feasibility studies, etc. were conducted with regard to the activation of Sendai Airport and regional development of the surrounding area with a view to utilizing the system of management for public facilities, etc.

A total of 14 earthquake disaster reconstruction public-private partnership support projects were adopted, with a reconstruction community renovation feasibility study, etc. being conducted in Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate Prefecture under the leadership of a reconstruction community renovation company led by the private sector.

Restrictions being imposed from a viewpoint of securing national safety and security are reviewed as appropriate to address changes in the socio-economic climate precisely. A total of 22 preferential measures had been taken for Special Districts for Structural Reform and 216 Special Districts approved across the nation until the end of March 2013, such that restrictions on 14 preferential measures were reformed nationwide on the basis of records in the Special Districts.

## Section 3 Driving the Implementation of National Land Policy

The implementation of a national land policy has been driven on the basis of the Fourth National Land Use Plan (national plan), which is committed to key principle of sustainable national land management, as well as a national spatial plan (national plan), which defines the “formation of a beautiful national land in which not only diverse global blocks grow in a self-sustaining manner but also living is easy” as a new vision of national land to guide the work of national spatial planning, and global regional plans, which summarize the regional strategy of each global block and the specific approaches it takes.

National spatial plans (national and global regional plans) are monitored each year to help enhance their usefulness as guidelines to the entities connected with the plans.

Further, since the implementation of a national plan needs to be driven by responding precisely to changes, etc in the socio-economic climate following the formulation of the plan, a policy review was compiled in FY2012 in accordance with the provision of Article 7, National Spatial Planning Act and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Post-Evaluation Implementation Plan.

As for global regional planning, since Recommendations for Building a Disaster-Immune National Land were worked out in July 2011, by the Committee on Building an Anti-Disaster National Land, an organ of the National Land Council, the Tohoku Region Global Regional Plan has been reviewed and other global regional plans have just been overhauled. These and other efforts to forge disaster-immune communities continue. The implementation of fully integrated national land policy will be carried on to reflect results of these efforts.