Nothing has changed as there is no end to the wasteful spending and inappropriate handling of tax money. Amid the severe fiscal situation, each ministry and agency must be increasingly vigilant in implementing their budgets.
The Board of Audit has compiled its report on final accounts of expenditures and revenues for fiscal 2019. The report pointed out that 248 projects, worth a total of 29.7 billion yen, require improvement for such reasons as wasteful spending of tax money by ministries and agencies.
Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute inappropriately spent 1.1 billion yen on research supplies and facilities over the five years through fiscal 2015. It also engaged with certain firms in fictitious transactions and the leaking of bidding information.
At Saga University, a medical information system that was introduced in 2014 for 300 million yen has been left in a completely unusable condition. Officials in charge of the system reportedly failed to coordinate with other relevant universities. This is nothing but a shoddy way of managing tax money.
The administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is promoting digitization. Waste like this is likely to occur when introducing new systems. It is hoped that the board will keep a firm, close eye on developments.
The report also revealed sloppy project operations.
In a project for municipalities and other entities to develop hydrogen stations to supply fuel for fuel cell vehicles, more than 60% of all the 27 facilities in the project were found to be in a state of incompliance with the requirement that they must run on renewable energy alone. The Environment Ministry provided 1.9 billion yen in subsidies, but the project was discontinued.
In addition to the screening of candidate facilities and confirmation of their completion, it can be said that the planning of the project itself was too lax.
In a government-supported project to make oil refineries earthquake-resistant, 12 facilities run by six oil wholesalers are required to consider additional measures as a result of insufficient predictions for seismic intensity. In some cases, the ground was not reinforced despite the danger of possible liquefaction.
Some oil refineries were damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake, and gasoline shortages occurred. The government seems to lack awareness that the purpose and effect of the project is to prepare for a possible massive earthquake in the areas along the Nankai Trough and another with a focus just below Tokyo.
Due to the novel coronavirus crisis, auditing for the latest report was severely restricted. Even after the state of emergency was lifted, on-site inspections by board officials were conducted in a limited way. Still, there is no sign that infections will be contained, so the board should expand and improve ways to conduct audits in written format and implement them efficiently.
As part of efforts to combat the pandemic, ministries, agencies and local governments are proceeding with a number of projects involving economic measures and livelihood assistance.
In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were cases in which state funds were spent in the name of reconstruction assistance on projects that had little to do with the disaster-stricken areas.
An enormous amount of money has been allocated to measures against the coronavirus. It is only natural for the government to promptly provide support to those who need it, but irregularities and wasteful spending are unacceptable. Ministries and agencies must carefully assess the appropriateness of each project.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Nov. 16, 2020.
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