Local News

In an effort to promote municipal development, Oto-machi, a former coal-producing district in Fukuoka Prefecture, is putting together plans to attract a prison to the area. The town was unable to attract any corporations to locate there, so they have turned their attention to bringing in a prison, which they hope will spur employment and local consumption. They are planning to finance a facility through PFI (private finance initiative), which is a method for procuring funds from the private sector for public institutions in return for partial privatization of services. If they are successful, it would become the first PFI-funded prison in Kyushu.