The Japanese government estimates it will need to spend $291 billion in the next decade to rebuild areas destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, local reports said Thursday.

In the first five years, the government would spend 19 trillion yen or more than 80 percent of the total 23 trillion yen necessary for reconstruction, according to major media, including Kyodo News and the Yomiuri Shimbun.

To pay for the various projects, the government was considering spending cuts, sales of public assets, new bond issues and tax hikes, the reports said.

The plans are expected to be included in basic guidelines that the government is aiming to complete within this month, Kyodo said.

The government earlier estimated that costs resulting from damage from the disasters at 16.9 trillion yen.

Parliament approved a four trillion yen additional budget in May, and it is at the final phase of approving a second extra budget, worth two trillion yen.

A third extra budget is anticipated later this year, with analysts estimating it to be worth 10 trillion yen.

Details of the latest reconstruction plans could change as the government moves to restore Japan's finances, which currently include the industrialised world's largest public debt at around 200 percent of GDP.

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