Gov't to support water businesses in developing countries+

TOKYO, April 18 Kyodo - The government has decided to support Japanese firms in the field of water purification and water supply and sewerage system operation in developing countries in Asia, its sources said Saturday.

It has allocated around 5 billion yen in the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget
to carry out the plan to enable Japanese companies to advance into water-supply
projects and the construction of new sewage plants overseas in three years, the
sources said.
It has been estimated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that the
market for water resource-related businesses will expand to around 100 trillion
yen in 2025 from 60 trillion yen in 2005, reflecting population and economic
growth in emerging nations.
The government expects that leading-edge technologies possessed by Japanese
companies for water filtration and water saving will attract demand in
developing and emerging nations, where water and sewerage needs will grow
further from now on, the sources said.
Japan has supported construction of water-supply systems in developing
countries through its official development assistance, and the ministry aims to
enable Japanese companies to undertake everything from system construction
through operation, according to the sources.
==Kyodo