Japan PFI Projects to Cover Satellite Launches

Tokyo, April 29 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Liberal Democratic Party will
propose the government be allowed to outsource the launches and operations
of satellites to the private sector, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.
The ruling party is expected to adopt in early May a bill drafted
by its panel to promote so-called private finance initiatives to broaden the
scope of PFI projects, now limited to roads, hospitals and government
buildings, informed sources said.
According to the draft bill to revise the PFI law, the LDP will
propose adding satellites and other mobile objects for public use to the PFI
list.
The LDP aims to pass the bill into law during the current Diet
session ending on June 3. The LDP will submit the bill to the Diet after
talks with New Komeito, its partner in the ruling coalition, the sources
said.
If the PFI Law is revised as hoped for by the LDP, the government
will be able to outsource the launches and operations of meteorological,
communications and navigational satellites to the private sector in order to
push forward costly space development projects more efficiently, they said.
The government plans to show its target of launching 34 satellites
over the coming five years, double the 16 satellites launched in the past
five years, in a basic plan on the nation's space development to be
finalized in May.
The LDP thinks the envisioned law amendment will help Japan to
achieve the target.
The revised law is also expected to enable municipalities to
consign their remote island ferry services and helicopter and other
transport-related operations to the private sector to cut costs because the
mobile objects include ships and aircraft besides satellites, a senior
official of the LDP panel said.
In the PFI framework, the government invites private-sector players
to invest and take part in public projects in order to improve the
efficiency of the projects. Japan has launched 333 PFI projects throughout
the country since the PFJ law was enacted in 1999.