The Japanese Government is teaming up with domestic companies to build, operate and maintain infrastructure facilities in Asia and other emerging markets, including Vietnam , a local daily reported.

Japan will carry out three infrastructure projects worth 75 billion yen in total in Vietnam as their first such undertaking, the Nikkei daily said.

The three projects, which are expected to be officially awarded by the Vietnamese government as early as next month, include the construction of a water system covering all over Hanoi by NGK Insulators Ltd. and Fuji Electric Holdings Co.-affiliated Metawater Co.; the installation of intelligent transportation systems on a highway linking Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by Central Nippon Expressway Co., formerly part of the now-defunct Japan Highway Public Corp.; and the construction of a biomass power plant on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City by Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power).

For its part, the Japanese government will offer trade insurance and other support in case payments by Vietnam and other host countries are delayed or suspended. It could also offer insurance covering projects as a whole, including operations and upkeep.

Japanese firms' involvement in infrastructure projects in Asia and elsewhere has until now been limited mainly to construction or supplying materials. They see getting involved in operating and maintaining facilities as a source of stable long-term earnings.

Since it believes that Japan 's environmental technology can be used in a wide variety of fields, the government plans to help Japanese companies win bids to develop infrastructure. It will focus on nuclear and energy-saving thermal power plants, water systems, railways, recycling operations, telecommunications and the like.

It will draw up guidelines containing strategies to help Japanese firms win infrastructure orders over the next decade or so and will consider providing a few hundred million yen in support to Japanese consortiums.

According to Nikkei daily, around 2 percent, or some 1 trillion USD, of the world's gross domestic product is spent each year on constructing and maintaining infrastructure, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. With infrastructure demand to balloon in emerging markets, such spending will total an estimated 41 trillion USD over the 25 years from 2005./.