Tokyo, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government Saturday released a draft ordinance laying out requirements for designating “secondary capitals” that would serve as substitutes for the capital’s functions in the event of a major disaster, with Hokkaido, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka prefectures meeting the proposed criteria. All four prefectures have expressed their intention to apply for secondary capital designation to the central government. The government began soliciting public comments on the draft ordinance the same day, planning to finalize it later this month. Under the draft ordinance, prefectures that are considered unlikely to suffer damage at the same time as the Tokyo metropolitan area would be eligible, excluding areas that would be affected by a possible major earthquake directly beneath Tokyo or an eruption of Mount Fuji. In addition, the secondary capital designation requires that eligible prefectures contain a city with at least 14 regional offices of central government agencies, that they have an ordinance-designated major city whose population accounts for at least 1.2 pct of the country’s total population, that their economic scale accounts for at least 2.1 pct of Japan’s gross domestic product and that an ordinance-designated city is reorganized into a special ward or concludes a partnership agreement with the prefectural government. The four prefectures already meet the first three requirements and can apply for secondary capital designation after meeting the fourth. A secondary capital is aimed at creating a multipolar and decentralized economic zone by developing alternative functions for the country’s capital in local areas in preparation for large-scale disasters. The designated areas are expected to implement measures such as developing alternative functions, providing tax incentives to attract private investment and introducing deregulation. The government plans to announce its basic stance on secondary capital designation in November and outline a schedule for submitting applications. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
