Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said yesterday that the government could terminate its contract with the Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (遠東電子收費, FETC) if the company fails to rectify the technical errors in the freeway electronic toll collection (ETC) system.
Earlier this week, Yeh said the contractor must offer additional compensation to freeway drivers for any erroneous transaction appearing in their ETC accounts, as well as refund the charge.
In response to Yeh’s request, the company first said its contract with the government did not include such a provision. However, it said in a statement on Thursday night that it would not only correct the error, but would round up the erroneous charges and compensate affected drivers by doubling the amount. The company added that the compensation plan would only be valid during the first year of the freeway “pay as you go” system.
While the company appeared to be willing to comply with the ministry’s demand, Yeh said the bottom line should be that the ETC system should be problem-free.
“It does not matter if the company is willing to offer compensation that is five times or 10 times the questionable charge. This is only a means to an end,” he said.
“I believe that FETC would take care to protect its corporate image and reputation. If the ETC system continues to generate errors this year, which would be unbelievable, we would consider terminating the contract with the company and taking other possible actions.”
The company has been fined before by the National Freeway Bureau for failing to reach the usage rate of the ETC system stated in the contract.
However, the company disagreed with the bureau’s interpretation of the contract’s terms and filed an administrative lawsuit to avoid paying those penalties.
Yeh said yesterday that the nation is ruled by law and the company has the right to settle the dispute through the legal system. However, he added that the ministry would handle the issues it had with the company based on the contract and the law.
“We would defend public interests and will not favor the contractor,” he said.
FETC added in a statement yesterday that the company would consider setting up a compensation mechanism for freeway drivers within the concession period stated in the contract.
“It was inevitable that the system would encounter some problems at the initial stage of operation. We will evaluate the compensation package offered this year and how well it was received by freeway drivers before we consider setting up a compensation mechanism,” the company said.
In related news, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said separately yesterday that a NT$600 million (US$20 million) cloud system project that would upload real-time traffic information on major roads to the Internet could violate privacy and should be dropped.
If established, the “traffic information cloud project” of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would obtain drivers’ traffic information via multiple channels, such as mobile phones, taxi operators, navigation operators and the electronic toll collection system, and upload them to the system, Kuan said.
“By collecting the geographical location of millions of drivers on national highways and major roads in all cities and counties, the cloud system would become an ‘information monster’ that violates the basic human right of privacy,” she said.
Moreover, the project was tendered to FETC. In view of its involvement in the ongoing controversy about the freeway toll system, its capability and integrity are questionable, Kuan added.
She said that the company has been dealing with a series of controversies, such as the ETC system errors, while Minister Without Portfolio Simon Chang (張善政) said earlier this week that the company’s system had been hacked.
“That tells us that the company’s information security management capability is highly questionable. This project should be dropped and its budget should be cut,” Kuan said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard