  We show that in the framework of grand unified theory (GUT) with anomalous
$U(1)_A$ gauge symmetry, the success of the gauge coupling unification in the
minimal SU(5) GUT is naturally explained, even if the mass spectrum of
superheavy fields does not respect SU(5) symmetry. Because the unification
scale for most realizations of the theory becomes smaller than the usual GUT
scale, it suggests that the present level of experiments is close to that
sufficient to observe proton decay via dimension 6 operators, $p\to e+\pi$.
