(Adds background, detail, Stolpe quotes)
By James Mackenzie
BERLIN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The German government declined to confirm a Financial Times report on Thursday it was seeking up to 700 million euros ($822.9 million) damages from the Toll Collect consortium for delays to Germany's troubled truck toll scheme.
The Toll Collect the consortium groups DaimlerChrysler , Deutsche Telekom and France's Cofiroute which developed the satellite-based toll system.
Following repeated delays to the launch, the government is negotiating with Toll Collect over liabilities from the delayed launch but a Transport Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the extent of its claims.
"We are not going to take part in the media discussion and speculation. Our aim is to reach an agreement with our partners in the contract negotiations," he said.
Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe told a German newspaper that the conditions in the government's contract with Toll Collect contained liability provisions that would add to pressure on the operators to get the system working quickly.
"The philosophy of the contract in this phase is, the longer the consortium needs, the less it will get each month for the prefinanced system and that's long term as well. This pressure is greater than penalties," he told the Frankfurter Rundschau.
WALK AWAY
He said the government did not want to walk away from the contract with Toll Collect but would reserve the right to do so if no agreement could be reached. "Our aim is to have the issue cleared up by the beginning of December," he said.
"So we have agreed that adjustments to the contract -- and that is the mildest way to put it -- have to happen and we are currently negotiating hard over that."
Shares in Deutsche Telekom were 1.2 percent lower by 0850 GMT, while DaimlerChrysler was 0.9 percent weaker.
Toll Collect developed the satellite-based toll system which uses laser and mobile telecoms technology to track the movement of trucks around Germany's highways.
But the project has been hit by repeated delays and technical problems and is not expected to be up and running until next year, creating a major embarrassment and depriving the government of 156 million euros in revenues a month.
The head of the consortium, Michael Rummel, was replaced after a growing public outcry about the delays but Toll Collect has said it could not give a start date for the project because its technical complexity had been underestimated.
Stolpe has accused the consortium of providing misleading information about the progress of the system, a charge it rejects. If it were found to have misled the ministry it could be liable to pay the government compensation.
The project was due to be launched on August 31, a start date later shifted back to November 2. But a four-week trial was again postponed earlier this month due to technical problems.