The implementation of a bullet train station in Dallas, Texas, supported by the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development (JOIN) is yet to commence. Japan’s public-private investment funds, which were aimed at encouraging investments considered too risky for the private sector alone, have faced challenges related to mismanagement, leading to a situation where the central government now holds a significant majority of control over these funds. Amidst the failure of these funds to perform efficiently, the government's investment ratio has risen substantially, reaching an average of 80% for eight key public-private funds, with this ratio exceeding 90% in five of them.
These public-private investment funds were established to jointly finance projects that were deemed too risky for private sector investment alone, with the expectation that the private sector would play a leading role in identifying viable investment opportunities for these funds. However, the mismanagement of these funds has led to a string of unsuccessful investments, prompting the government to provide additional capital and consequently increasing its share in these funds significantly. The government's involvement in these funds, initially established as a 50-50 split with the private sector, has now skewed towards an average government investment ratio of 80.2%, raising concerns about the lack of effective private sector participation.
As of the end of March 2023, inspections by the Cabinet Secretariat revealed that out of the 14 public-private funds monitored, the majority were funded under the premise of repayment to the government post completion of investments. While these funds were initially set up with an equal government-private sector funding distribution, exceptions such as the Japan Investment Corp. (JIC) and the Cool Japan Fund Inc. (CJ) were noted under the economy ministry's jurisdiction. However, as the government's share in these funds increased, particularly in cases where the public sector investment exceeded 90%, concerns were raised about the need for urgent management restructuring to address accumulated losses exceeding 10 billion yen and to enable effective private sector participation.