LDP delays approval of bill to limit ownership of Narita airport firm+

TOKYO, Feb. 17 Kyodo -
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday put off approval of a bill to
limit investment in Narita International Airport Corp. as some LDP lawmakers
complained about the bill's failure to give consideration to national security,
government officials said.

But the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism hopes to get
the LDP's approval as early as next week and the Cabinet's decision to submit
the bill to the Diet within this month, ministry officials said.
The officials quoted LDP lawmakers as noting that the bill fails to require the
operator of the international airport near Tokyo to cooperate with the
government in an emergency and that it lacks measures for national security.
The bill is designed to limit any single shareholder's equity ownership to less
than 20 percent regardless of whether the shareholder is Japanese or foreign,
after the company makes an initial public offering in fiscal 2010 that will
start in April 2010.
The ministry is proposing the bill after an earlier version to limit foreign
ownership of the company to less than one-third came under fire last year for
impeding foreign investment in Japan in general.
==Kyodo