The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) said yesterday it will pay Eurotrain US$65 million in compensation for dumping the consortium and choosing a Japanese consortium to build Taiwan's high-speed rail system.
THSRC posted the settlement agreement on the Taiwan Stock Market online bulletin board.
"Following arbitration by an international arbitration court, THSRC agrees to pay US$65 million to Eurotrain, which -- plus interest -- totals US$89 million," the document said.
THSRC's press office said the arbitration was made on March 5 by an international arbitration court in Singapore.
Compared with an arbitration ruled by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) early this year, the new settlement saves THSRC US$24 million, according to THSRC. Eurotrain filed for arbitration with the ICC in 2001.
The ICC issued an arbitration award on March 15, 2004, wherein THSRC was ordered to pay US$73.04 million in damages and interest to Eurotrain.
Eurotrain -- a consortium led by Germany's Siemens AG and France's Alsthom -- claims THSRC gave it priority negotiating rights for building Taiwan's first high-speed rail in 1997, but awarded the US$14-billion-contract to a Japanese consortium in 1999. But THSRC denied there was any contract.
The 345km railway linking Taipei to Kaohsiung is scheduled to start operating in October next year.
There were rumors that THSRC favored Japan's Shinkansen system over Eurotrain because former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) wanted to forge closer ties with Japan, but THSRC denied there were political considerations.
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
RSS