ELECTRONIC ROAD PRICING SYSTEM (Progress)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Dr Wang Kai Yuen asked the Minister for Communications what is the progress of the proposed Electronic Road Pricing system to date.

The Minister of State for Communications (Mr Mah Bow Tan) (for the Minister for Communications): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Public Works Department prequalified eight suppliers who have been invited to tender for the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system. The tenders for the system closed in November 1990. We are now in the midst of evaluating the proposals of the tenderers.

Dr Wang Kai Yuen (Bukit Timah): Sir, how does the proposed weekend car scheme dovetail into the ERP system if the ERP system were to be delayed due to technical difficulties or there exists insurmountable technical difficulties?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, the ERP system is proposed to be fully operational towards the middle of this decade. During this time, we will be implementing the weekend car scheme. The Member's question was how these two schemes will dovetail.

Basically, the ERP system is a usage scheme in the sense that a motorist will pay if he uses certain roads. These roads will either be those in the CBD or those outside the CBD which tend to be congested. The weekend car scheme is also a usage scheme in the sense that a motorist, under certain conditions, for example, he will not be allowed to use certain roads at certain times, he will pay less in road tax. The two schemes are intended to merge one with the other when both schemes are fully implemented. In other words, when the ERP system is fully implemented, all cars could be deemed to be one class of cars. You can call it weekend cars or normal cars, but it will be one class of cars as compared to the proposed weekend car scheme when there are two classes of cars created.