ID :
310592
Thu, 12/12/2013 - 08:12
Auther :

Japan to Continue Toll Discounts for Tokyo Bay Aqua Line

Tokyo, Dec. 12 (Jiji Press)--Japan's transport ministry is set to extend toll discounts for the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line expressway, which were initially scheduled to expire in March 2014, because of the program's economy-boosting effects, informed sources said Thursday. The toll for standard-size vehicles will be kept at 800 yen, compared with the original level of 3,000 yen. Costs to cover revenue losses from the discount program will continue to be shouldered by the state and the Chiba prefectural government. The Aqua Line, a combination of an undersea tunnel and a bridge, links Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, and Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of the Japanese capital. In fiscal 2012, about 38,000 vehicles used the expressway a day on average, up some 80 pct from 2008, before the launch of the program. The number of visitors to Chiba has risen as large shopping malls were opened there amid an expected increase in customers who come by car via the Aqua Line, while new residential areas are being developed in Kisarazu. The program started in 2009 under the first term of Chiba Governor Kensaku Morita, whose election campaign pledges included a plan to introduce toll discounts for the expressway. The program was originally scheduled to expire at the end of March 2014 because the state's 3-trillion-yen funds earmarked for toll discounts for expressways nationwide are seen running out. But the transport ministry opted to keep the program in place in view of its economic benefits on the local economy and because the Chiba prefectural government has shown an intention to continue helping cover necessary costs in and after April 2014, according to the sources. END

X