Hidden beneath its streets, Japan¡¯s aging sewer pipes spotlight a challenge that has held back reforms Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to revitalize the world¡¯s third-biggest economy.
Overhauling the country¡¯s infrastructure ¡ª roads, tunnels, ports and sewage plants, many of them built after the 1970s when the construction boom started ¡ª is a looming burden on the government, whose deficit has already swollen to more than twice its GDP.
Abe¡¯s solution is to sell public assets to companies or allow firms to manage them, which he argues would also help reduce the bulging deficit and generate economic momentum and jobs.
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