Taipei - The Taiwan government plans to take over the loss-making high-speed railway in an effort to restructure the operating company, press reports said Sunday. According to the Economic Daily News, board members of the Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp are expected to resign this week, so that the government can name Ou Chin-der as new chairman. Ou is currently chief executive officer.
The Taiwan government holds a 37-per-cent stake in the company and controls four seats in the 15-member board.
The 345-kilometre high-speed rail, built with Japanese technology, began running between Taipei and Kaohsiung in 2007, with a maximum speed of 350 kilometres per hour.
But the operator has been mired in debt due to high interest rates on its bank loans, a depreciation in the value of its assets, mismanagement and competition from other transport, the report said.
According to the United Daily News, the company is 70 billion Taiwan dollars (2.1 billion US) in debt, and every month has to pay 66.4 billion Taiwan dollars (2 billion US dollars) in interests on loans.
