会計検査院報告 杜撰なインフラ管理を見直せ

The Yomiuri Shimbun November 12, 2013
Board of Audit warning must lead to better infrastructure management
会計検査院報告　杜撰なインフラ管理を見直せ（11月10日付・読売社説）

The improper and ineffective use of taxpayers’ money remains strikingly conspicuous.
　税金が有効に使われていないケースが、相変わらず目立つ。

The Board of Audit, in its auditing report for the fiscal year that ended on March 31 this year, has pointed out 630 cases of improper, questionable use of ¥490.7 billion of government funds.
　会計検査院は２０１２年度の決算検査報告書で６３０件、４９０７億円の問題点を指摘した。

Japan has long had the worst fiscal deficits among industrially advanced countries. No time should be wasted in buckling down to the challenge of fiscal reconstruction.
　日本は先進国で最悪の財政赤字を抱えている。財政再建は待ったなしだ。

All ministries and agencies that have been asked by the board to rectify problematic use of public funds must squarely address the task of proper budgetary implementation.
検査院から改善を求められた各省庁は、予算の適正な執行に取り組まねばならない。

The public funds watchdog this time focused its inspections on how public infrastructure has been maintained and managed because infrastructure is closely linked to the public’s safety.
　検査院は今回、公共インフラの維持・管理の調査に力を入れた。国民の安全にかかわるからだ。

The fact that the board’s inspections have uncovered a large number of cases of sloppy infrastructure management cannot be overlooked.
その調査で、杜撰(ずさん)な実態が浮かび上がったことは看過できない。

A case in point is problems with the management of overpasses across expressways.
　例えば、高速道路をまたぐ陸橋（跨(こ)道橋）の管理だ。

The board’s inspections of all the nation’s approximately 4,500 overpasses have revealed that 635 of them have been left unchecked. In addition, it remains unconfirmed whether another 548 overpasses have been checked.
全国の約４５００か所すべてを調べたところ、６３５橋で点検が実施されていなかった。５４８橋では点検をしたかどうかすら不明だった。

It is astonishing that no steps have been taken to prevent concrete pieces from becoming detached at 968 overpasses built 30 years or more ago. If pieces of concrete hit a passing motor vehicle, the result could be disastrous. In fact, such an accident happened on the Tomei (Tokyo-Nagoya) Expressway.
　３０年以上経過した陸橋のうち９６８橋で、コンクリート片の剥落防止措置がとられていなかったことにも驚く。通行中の自動車を直撃すれば、惨事を招きかねない。過去には東名高速道路にコンクリ片が落下した事例もある。

The collapse of an overpass in a major earthquake could sever expressway networks, rendering them unable to function as arteries for transporting emergency supplies.
　大地震の際、陸橋が崩落すると、高速道路が寸断され、緊急輸送路としての機能を果たせなくなる事態が懸念される。

Past lessons unheeded

Expressway companies built the overpasses to connect communities separated by the construction of thoroughfares, and their management is up to the relevant local municipalities.
　陸橋は、高速道路による地域の分断対策として、高速道路会社側が建造し、所在地の自治体が管理している。

Given that the structures were not built at the expense of the municipalities, local governments apparently tend to lack awareness of their responsibility to maintain and repair the overpasses.
自治体が自らの予算で造った施設でないことが、当事者意識を欠いた対応につながっているのではないか。

Expressway operators and municipalities must heighten their collaboration to ensure the safety of the structures.
　高速道路会社と自治体は連携し、安全対策を進めるべきだ。

There also are a pile of problems with tunnels on national highways. The board’s inspections have revealed that no regular checks have been conducted on at least 11 of them during the past 10 years or so.
　国道トンネルにも問題が多い。少なくとも１１か所で約１０年間、定期点検が行われていなかった。

No lessons have been utilized from the collapse of the Toyohama Tunnel near Yoichi, western Hokkaido, in 1996, which killed 20 people. It is only natural that the Board of Audit has demanded that the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry thoroughly inspect national highway tunnels to ensure their safety.
　２０人が犠牲になった１９９６年の北海道・豊浜トンネル崩落事故の教訓が生かされていない。検査院が国土交通省に対し、点検の徹底を求めたのは当然である。

Shikoku Railway Co. (JR Shikoku) has left 56 of its railway bridges unrepaired for more than three years despite knowing they needed repairs, according to the board. One railway bridge has been left without repairs for as long as 23 years, the board said. It naturally came under fire for having little safety awareness.
　ＪＲ四国の鉄道橋では、補修の必要性を把握しながら、３年以上修繕していない橋が５６か所に上った。中には２３年間、放置された橋もあった。安全への認識が希薄だと批判されても仕方あるまい。

We are also astonished by the sloppiness, as uncovered by the board, of the central and local governments in reinforcing infrastructure to improve earthquake resistance.
　国や自治体のお粗末な耐震補強工事にもあきれるばかりだ。

In one instance, antiseismic ferroconcrete slabs were installed around pillars of bridges, but it was later learned that doing so weakened the quake-resistance of the bases of the pillars because of the additional load the pillars had to bear as a result of the reinforcement, the board noted.
橋脚の柱部分に鉄筋コンクリートを巻き付ける工事で、重量の増加を適切に考慮しなかったため、橋脚を支える基礎部分の耐震性がかえって低下したケースがあった。

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has hammered out a policy of boosting national land resilience.
　安倍政権は、国土強靱(きょうじん)化の方針を打ち出している。

The sloppy rudimentary inspection and maintenance of existing infrastructure revealed by the Board of Audit could damage the trustworthiness of Abe’s policy.
だが、既存の建造物の基本的な保守・点検がおろそかなようでは心もとない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 10, 2013)
（2013年11月10日01時58分 読売新聞）