Minister of Reconstruction: "We Don't Know How Much Has Been Spent on What and Where"

And why not?

Because his agency, modeled after the one that had existed in the wake of the devastating 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, didn't tally. There was no plan to do so either.

Children at play, whether it's in Japan or in the US or the EU.

From Tokyo Shinbun (11/14/2012):

被災地で使った復興予算額　復興相「分からない」

Amount of money spent for recovery and reconstruction in the disaster affected area: "We don't know", says Minister of Reconstruction

平野達男復興相は十三日の衆院予算委員会で、東日本大震災の復興予算のうち、被災地で使われた金額や割合について「明確に整理したデータはない」と明らかにした。復興予算のずさんな扱いがまた鮮明になった。

Minister of Reconstruction Tatsuo Hirano said in the Lower House Budget Committee meeting on November 13 that "there is no data compiled" to account for the amount for the money spent in the disaster-affected areas out of the total recovery/reconstruction budget for the March 11, 2011 disaster. It is another example of the lax treatment of the reconstruction budget.

平野氏は二〇一一年度に計上された復興予算十五兆円のうち、執行されたのは全体の六割に当たる九兆円だったと説明。九兆円のうち、被災地で使われた額は「正確には分からない」と述べた。

Mr. Hirano explained that 60 percent, or 9 trillion yen has been spent, of the total 15 trillion yen recovery/reconstruction budget for the fiscal 2011 [that ended on March 31, 2012]. Of 9 trillion yen, he said he didn't know the exact the amount spent in the disaster-affected areas.

執行された予算が実際に現場の業者にどれぐらい回っているかと質問されたのに対しても、「聞き取り調査をしないと分からない。データを集めるのには時間がかかる」と答えた。

When questioned how much of the money actually spent had gone to the companies that did the actual work [of recovery/reconstruction] in the disaster-affected area, Mr. Hirano answered, "We will have to interview [the businesses] and find out. It will take time to collect the data."

復興予算が実際に被災地で使われた予算額については、現在、復興庁で集計中。

The Reconstruction Agency is now tallying the amount of money actually spent in the disaster affected area.

もともと集計する計画はなかったが、復興予算が被災地の再生と無関係な事業に使われていることが明らかになったのを受けて、急きょ集計することになった。

As it has been revealed that the projects not related to the recovery of the disaster-affected areas got funding from the recovery/reconstruction budget, the agency has decided to tally up the amount even though there was no plan to do so.

What kind of projects got funded? Here are some examples:

• Remodel the tax collection agency's offices throughout Japan so that the tax collectors can continue to operate even in a major disaster;

• Counter the activities of anti-whaling groups;

• Training in the prisons in Hokkaido and Saitama, so that the prisoners won't commit crimes in the disaster-affected areas once they are released;

• Seismic retrofit for the government buildings throughout Japan

• Renovate kitchens and baths in the Self Defense Force camps outside the disaster-affected areas

The last one I approve. It was not just SDF soldiers in Tohoku who were deployed in Tohoku right after the March 11, 2011 disaster.

The most cynical is the first one, remodeling of the tax offices so that the government continues to collect taxes in the next major disaster.

The general election cannot come soon enough, but it's just too bad you cannot vote out the bureaucrats who make their living out of taxpayers' money.

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