Japan announces £29bn rebuilding plan

Published on Friday 22 April 2011 16:31

Japan's government proposed a special 4 trillion yen (£29.6 billion) budget to help finance reconstruction efforts yesterday and plans to build 100,000 temporary homes for survivors of last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The twin disasters destroyed roads, ports, farms and homes and crippled a nuclear power plant that forced tens of thousands of more people to evacuate their houses for at least several months. The government said the damage could cost $309bn, (187bn) making it the world's most costly natural disaster.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he was moved by his conversations with victims during a recent tour of shelters.

"I felt with renewed determination that we must do our best to get them back as soon as possible," he said.

He was speaking as pop singer Kylie Minogue joined Australian prime minister Julia Gillard in Tokyo for a fund-raising dinner for the victims of tsunami and massive earthquake in Tokyo.

Ms Fillard is on a four-day visit to Japan, during which she was expected to visit the tsunami and earthquake disaster site in northern Japan.

The extra $50bn (30.3bn) the Cabinet approved is expected to be only the first instalment of reconstruction funding.

About $15bn (9bn) will fix roads and ports and more than $8.5bn (5bn) will build temporary homes and clear rubble.

"This is the first step toward rebuilding Japan after the major disasters," finance minister Yoshihiko Noda said. Parliament is expected to approve the special budget next week.

More than 27,000 people are dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan on 11 March.

About 135,000 survivors are living in 2,500 shelters, and many others have moved into temporary housing or are staying with relatives.

As part of the government's recovery plan, it will build 30,000 temporary homes by the end of May and another 70,000 after that, Kan said.

Japan already was mired in a 20-year economic slowdown, Mr Kan said, and he hoped the disaster recovery effort would help lift Japan economically.He urged Japanese to spend money during the upcoming Golden Week holidays to help spur the economy.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., which said it will take six to nine months to bring the plant under full control, has been heavily criticised for its handling of the crisis.

TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu was received harshly when he toured a shelter of 1,600 people in Koriyama.

"We're angry, angry, angry," one man shouted at him.

"How about you spend a month here?" another shouted.

"Take your nuclear energy back to Tokyo," a third said.

Shimizu apologised to the governor of Fukushima prefecture, Yuhei Sato, an outspoken critic of the response by the government and company to the nuclear crisis.

Sato bluntly told Shimizu the era of nuclear power plants in Fukushima had ended.

"No way. The resumption of nuclear power plants… no way," he said.

Meanwhile, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the port of Kita Ibaraki.