NEXCO CENTRAL (Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited)




September 20, 2006 Chairman Yano's regular press conference

Conference Summary

(Chairman)

Chairman

Hello everyone. There are a few things I would like to report today.
First of all, it is the current status of the business that we conduct every month. It is for August.

Toll revenues decreased by 2.5% year-on-year, and traffic volume increased by 0.2%. Toll revenue is minus 3.2% at high speeds, which is considered to be due to the Large of time discounts due to the spread of ETC. On the other hand, general toll roads increased by 5.4%, which is probably due to the network effect of the Tokai Loop and Ise Bay. It is a passing number, but it is a plus 2.9% at high speed, I think this is also a discount for ETC spread or economic Large. On toll roads, it was minus 8.9%, which, as we have been talking about, has decreased due to the free use of Toyokawa Bridge and Manazuru Roads and the transfer to the public corporation.
Regarding the construction status, the Chubu-OdanExpwy between Masuho and Minami Alps, which is scheduled to open this year, is scheduled to be completed by the end of March next year according to an agreement with the mechanism, but I have seen it before, The construction at was proceeding smoothly. We are currently investigating whether it will be possible to advance the completion time to some extent. We are reviewing the process and then coordinating with related organizations. I will explain it when it is materialized. Another Hachioji JCT-Akiruno, which is the other Ken-O Road, was originally scheduled to be completed in March next year, but as already announced, it will be postponed for three months in June next year. I will. The main reason is the delay in the tunnel excavation process. Our company will continue to take over the business from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which is a joint venture, in order to do well.
The average contract win rate for major works was 81.93% in August, and the cumulative total for the year was 84.89%.
Regarding the status of ETC, the average usage rate within our jurisdiction is 65.5% as of September 8-14. The cumulative total number of installations nationwide is 3.2%, or about 380,000 units, which is about 12.18 million units.
Regarding the service area, sales are 120.8% compared to the previous year. The main factor was 171.8% in the gas station sector. In other departments, the food and beverage department increased 1.0%, the product sales department increased 2.2%, and the service department increased 2.1%. I think that there was a big impact due to the problem of the price difference, but only the gas station department was the most prominent, with an increase of 71.8%.
The above is the part of the regular report.

Next are some topics. There are good reports and bad reports, but I would like to start with the bad ones.
One is the ChuoExpwy multiple collision accident, which is a serious accident and there are four people who died. We, as road administrators, pray from the bottom of my heart, That's the feeling. We are currently investigating the current situation or the cause, mainly by the police, but after confirming this, we would like to discuss with the police and other related organizations well and promptly implement more effective safety measures. We are.
By the way, although there is a curve over there, there were 54 accidents from 2001, 2001 to 2005 and 2005, but there were 20 in 2001, 15 in 2014, 6 in 15 years. There were 7 incidents in 2016, 6 incidents in 2017, and the number of accidents was increasing from a 2-digit accident to a single digit. There was only one fatal accident in 2001, but I sincerely accept that such a big accident happened this time, and I would like to make use of it in the investigation of the cause and future measures. Please also refer to the attached materials for photos of the situation.
The second bad report is the verification result of the asset valuation. We have been re-verifying the assets inherited from the former Japan Highway Public Corporation in October of last year, but it turned out that some assets were incorrect, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, promptly to the organization. I made a report. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism today cautioned that we should manage assets so that such a thing will never happen again. Even if we do this, officers and employees will re-recognize this mistake, we will discuss and coordinate with each related organization and make necessary corrections, but we will do our best not to repeat the same error. I would like to make an effort. If you have any questions, the person in charge of accounting will explain the details of these numbers.

Next, NEXCO will celebrate its first anniversary this October. We are planning various events to commemorate this 1st anniversary. There are no events that are so surprising, but since it was announced today, we have handed out a document that details the contents of the event. We are planning various events, such as walking on the road before opening, cycling, or going through the ETC one-stop service again at this time, I would like to carry out this. Mainly September 30th and October 1st.
Also, although we have not handed out the materials, it is a planned discount for Expressway and is called a round trip ticket, but we are considering it. We would like to help our users in the autumn and October holiday seasons. The final draft has not been finalized, so we would like to make a report as soon as possible. For example, I have an idea such as an ETC weekend free pass in the three prefectures of Hokuriku, and I'm thinking about what kind of service I can do on weekends and weekends every weekend. We will report this as soon as it is decided.

The following is the handed out materials. You can use electronic money "Edy" with SA / PA. We will start this at 10 places from October 1st, but we will gradually spread it. The 10 locations starting on October 1st are as described in your document.

Next, Starbucks coffee is Tomei Ashigara SA In-bound plans in that October 6, open to. It means trying to use the underground water of Mt. Fuji. After this, in the current fiscal year, Ashigara SA of Out-bound, Fujikawa SA of In-bound Out-bound, Hamanako SA will continue to open any time. The picture may not look very clear, but as you can see in the copy, it will be a coffee shop with the feature that it is a little different in color from Starbucks in the city. The feature is what is called an eco-shop, and we are trying to run various eco-friendly shops and their operation.
Then, I mentioned the environmental issue, but we are distributing the material as another presentation material. We are aiming for an "eco-area" that is kind to the global environment, and promote the reduction of environmental load with SA I want to do it. Regarding the three Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, I also go around SA and PA in various places, but there is a lot of trash brought in from outside the area. This is a headache in operation. By all means, I think we need to call on the driver to cooperate with us at that point. On the other hand, make SA / PA an “eco area”. I think it is important that the employees who work there work together as one. The "eco-area" is a major goal for the environment as a whole, but one case is the starbucks that I explained earlier.
Regarding the problem of garbage collection in the "Eco Area," I will explain it in a color copy in an easy-to-understand manner. I hope you can refer to it.
Then, although this is a copy from the homepage, we have set up a zero traffic fraud headquarters and we are working hard now. There are a lot of cases such as gate breakthroughs, and as you can see in the material, malicious things have been arrested. We will try our best to prevent such illegal traffic, and we would like to work in cooperation with the parties concerned.

That is all for my initial report.

 

(Moderator)

So do you have any questions?

 

(Reporter)

Regarding the multiple accident of ChuoExpwy, it is said that you have taken safety measures so far, but please tell us what you are assuming as future measures.

 

(Chairman)

So far, we have not made a concrete plan called "this". First of all, I would like to check the cause and then take all possible measures.
I think that there are many things that can be considered in addition to the existing ones, such as signs and PR methods, but I have not reached the situation where I will report to you today.

 

(Reporter)

Regarding the results of the asset valuation verification, why did you discover this at this time?

 

(Chairman)

We did asset valuation once in the spring. At that time, there was a process of making various corrections before submitting, and I submitted it in March, but when I tried to re-verify again, it was like this. It's really embarrassing. In Central Japan, it turned out that I was underestimating about 5.3 billion yen. There has been a word from the old days, "I made a mistake and I had to make a mistake," and I think it is important to fix it as soon as you notice it. We became a company last October, but during the transition period, there were various office work, and I think there were some careless mistakes. As soon as possible, we have to get the ordinary company's accounting system, accounting system and its management into practice. I think that with this as an opportunity, we need to get into a normal state as soon as possible.

 

(Reporter)

With 71% increase in the gas station sector, I think this is also a problem with the pricing system, but I think it is better to consider this event, please consider reviewing the system. Please tell us your thoughts.

 

(Chairman)

As long as you are using the current system, I think such irregularities will occur. Given the current trend of rising prices and the instability of crude oil prices, I think there is a certain degree of unevenness.
There are some things I can't say whether pricing on the Expressway is the best way to do it now. There are some ways in which such a mechanism was created, so I would like to consult with related parties.
Anyway, last month it was a line that seemed to extend to the main line. Because it was 144 yen in town, it was 137 yen on the Expressway. When the moon changed, the price on the road was 144 yen, the town was 142 yen, and there was a 130 yen level for self-service, so August was a very special situation. I understand this.
I don't think we will change the system immediately after taking the phenomenon of only one month, but it is a good lesson, so I would like to discuss it for a moment.

 

(Reporter)

The number of Chuo Expressway accidents was 54 in the past, but how many meters is this?

 

(Chairman)

In kiloposts, this is the number of accidents between 259.3 and 259.9 kmposts, about 600 meters.

 

(Reporter)

Is this the most place in the jurisdiction?

 

(Chairman)

Check the situation in the jurisdiction.

 

(Reporter)

With such a large number of accidents, wouldn't it be necessary to review the road structure?

 

(Chairman)

I think it's a difficult problem, but when you look at the contents of the accident, you can see that it is both road conditions and driving conditions.
Since the road is operated under certain constraints, we think we must ask the driver to follow the rules such as speed limits.
However, within that constraint, we must try to prevent accidents as much as possible. I think that people who pass for the first time will notice various signs, but those who pass many times may inadvertently neglect those things. I think there is no choice but to promote PR in advance and call attention to it, including the psychological aspect of the driver.
When it comes to structure, there are some difficult problems. I would like to think carefully after analyzing the cause.

 

(Reporter)

This is the asset valuation, but it seems that the situation is not good, so I wondered if I reevaluated it.

 

(Chairman)

There are 6 companies in all, so there are varying degrees, but each company encountered various events and tried to try again.

 

(Reporter)

Do other companies do the same? And did you see a similar situation?

 

(Chairman)

The situation was the same for East and West companies. I think it's about noon today, but I'm holding a conference at Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Since I had this interview, I decided to report it to everyone first and I would like to say so. Check the announcement at Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for more data.

 

(Moderator)

If there are no other specific questions, today's regular press conference will end.

 

(Chairman)

Thank you so much for everyone.