Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co will seek NT$12 million (US$363,600) in compensation after agreeing with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) on Friday to amend their build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the highway electronic toll collection system (ETC), a source in the ministry said yesterday.
The compensation would include refunding processing fees for the internal circuit (IC cards on the onboard units (OBU) (NT$8 million), unpaid tolls processing fees (NT$3 million) and fees accrued as a result of a reduction of deposits from NT$200 to NT$100.
The source indicated that Far Eastern justified its request on the grounds that the contract was amended after the ETC system was fully constructed. Since the new contract will require the company to expand the operation and even change the system, they believe the costs should be met by the government.
The company, however, did not list in detail the items for which it is seeking compensation in any of the fee charges it mentioned. The Ministry has not agreed to any of the requests, either.
The MOTC decided last week to allow Far Eastern to continue to operate the freeway ETC system and both have reached two important agreements.
The price of OBUs will now be set at NT$680 each, and those who use their OBU 100 times within two years will be eligible for a full refund.
Meanwhile, the two parties agreed to amend the contract within seven working days.
According to an MOTC statement, the Ministry and Far Eastern had reached a consensus regarding 23 items by Wednesday. Four of them became effective yesterday, including the OBU price and reducing the processing fee for unpaid tolls (within one to three days after the usage) from NT$13 to zero.
The statement also said the Ministry would allow Far Eastern to act on the rest of the items in different stages because preparation work was required before they could be publicly announced.
On Friday, there were further negotiations on some of the details in the contract. Among the most significant are that motorists will only be able to deposit NT$100 on their IC cards starting on May 15. Those who have deposited NT$200 for the cards will be able to get a NT$100 refund at Far Eastern outlets starting on July 1. The refund notices will be sent to motorists by text-message.
Far Eastern also promised to add two independent members to their board. Those appointments will be approved by the ministry.
Meanwhile, Far Eastern said yesterday that it would inform motorists who have used OBUs a hundred times about the refund from Tomorrow to Friday by means of text-messages and personal calls, and ask how they would prefer to receive the payment. The refund would either be wired into the motorists' accounts or could be picked up in person at Far Eastern outlets nationwide.
Some motorists flocked to Far Eastern outlets yesterday only to be told they could not get refunds for OBUs.
"We will announce the official date for the new policy on our Web site as soon as possible, because it takes time to change the processing system," said Far Eastern spokesperson Lin Lee-ling (
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