Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co denied accusations in a local news report yesterday that claimed the company had faked the certification and test run results of its highway electronic toll collection (ETC) system in order to secure the bid for the project and facilitate the system's launch.
According to the report, Far Eastern bribed TuV, an Austrian certification agency, to issue an English document certifying the infrared system used by the company.
Some employees at MAA Group Consulting and Taiwan's Systex Corp had admitted that statistics from the test were either exaggerated or modified to allow Far Eastern to pass the test, the report said.
Far Eastern said yesterday that the certification documents presented at the bidding process were issued by TuV. The company said it followed legal procedures to obtain the documents, which were approved and recognized by the Higher Administrative Court.
The company said that it based its road test on the items listed in documents sent to all the bidders for the project.
The company said it had gone beyond the requirements. For example, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) did not specifically require that measurements be taken on rainy days, the company said, but to reinforce the credibility of the system, the company recruited a technology firm that used a sprinkling system to simulate the situation on rainy days.
In the statement, the company also asked for a more comprehensive investigation.
Lawmakers have cast doubts on the testing process of the ETC system.
People First Party Legislator Lee Hung-chun (
"The sprinkling system was used to test whether the onboard units [OBU] were able to be detected under various weather conditions," Lee said. "But the simulated test was nothing close to real situations, where there may also be typhoons and storms."
Lee said the ETC system had a high rate of malfunction and it was unreasonable to charge motorists for failing to pay a toll when the system was at fault.
The ministry announced last Friday that it would allow Far Eastern to continue to operate the ETC system and it would renegotiate a new build-operate-transfer contract with the company.
The two sides have this week started to amend the contract based on last Friday's agreement, including the price of the OBUs and a refund for the OBUs if motorists use it 100 times within two years.
Deputy Director-General of the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau Ou Hui-cheng (
Without revealing any details about the differences, Ou said hopefully everything could be worked out by Friday.
Far Eastern spokesperson Lin Li-ling (
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