The Japan Research Institute PRE Report 2010 Results of the “Survey on the Adoption of PRE Strategies by Local Governments”
－Progress on PRE stocktaking brings sharp rise in perception of volume of assets as excessive
－Organization-wide evaluation and analysis of PRE performance and the restructuring of school facilities are issues

In August-September 2010, the Japan Research Institute, Limited conducted a “Survey on the Adoption of PRE Strategies by Local Governments” among local governments around Japan, on the status of implementation of initiatives relating to public real estate (PRE) held by local governments. This survey was a continuation of the survey carried out in 2009 and set out to investigate and analyze the year-by-year change in the status of PRE strategy initiatives among local governments around Japan.

Amidst fears of further contraction of the domestic market due to the appreciation of the yen and the deterioration in business performance triggered by financial uncertainty in Europe, the outlook for local government finances has grown steadily worse over the last 12 months. If local governments are to implement appropriate selection and concentration of their management resources at a time when financial resources are limited, it is vital that they should draw up strategies for making the best possible use of and optimizing PRE (PRE strategies).

This year’s survey revealed that, as compared with fiscal 2009, some progress has been made in the compilation of fixed asset registers and that there has been a considerable rise in the ratio of local governments that have begun implementing initiatives relating to PRE strategies. Among prefectural governments in particular, the number of respondents who assessed the overall volume of PRE relative to administrative demand as “Excessive” was well above the number who felt it was “Appropriate”, a reversal of last year’s situation.

Although this sense of crisis is growing, the survey also revealed that the financial divisions and administrative reform divisions of the vast majority of local governments in the provinces have not had an accurate grasp of data (operating costs, utilization, repair history, etc.) relating to the public facilities they hold since they were built, and that arrangements for collecting and analyzing information on the current status of facilities, allowing it to be used in cross-divisional decision-making, are virtually non-existent. The survey also found that the rationalization and redistribution of school facilities has become an issue nationwide and that local governments have growing expectations of the benefits to be obtained by applying private-sector know-how to lots formerly occupied by schools.

For more information on the content of this report, please contact Sawako Wasada, the Japan Research Institute, Limited.

E-mail：200010-info@ml.jri.co.jp