SINGAPORE — The new satellite-based Electronic Road Pricing system that will cost over half a billion dollars and will be operational from 2020 has been more than a decade in the making.

Work on it began around 2002, but it was only in 2006 that the Land Transport Authority was able to complete trials using the Global Positioning System. Back then, it was reported that the margin of error in some areas went up to 50m.

A subsequent trial in 2007 found that the accuracy rate on highways was above 90 per cent but in the city centre, it dropped to around 30 per cent. When it called for a system-evaluation test in June 2011, the LTA cautioned that a new generation ERP system was “still some years away”.

An 18-month trial in Woodlands Avenue 12 was concluded in December 2012. In October 2014, the LTA announced that such a system was finally technologically feasible and called for a tender.

The results of the 2014 tender were announced Thursday (Feb 25). The winning bid was made by a consortium made up of NCS and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine System Asia. According to the LTA, this bid had the highest quality score and the lowest bid price among the three proposals.