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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo Reporter
THE Asian Development Bank (ADB)
may extend loans to winning bidders of the government’s big-ticket
power sector assets.
Zhai Yongping, ADB principal
energy specialist, said that for 2008 the multilateral bank is
looking at providing support facilities to the winning bidders of
the 600-megawatt Masinloc and Calaca coal-fired power plants and the
National Transmission Corp. (TransCo).
The official did not specify the
amount the ADB is willing to extend to the facilities’ winning
bidders but the bank previously indicated that the standby support
facility for TransCo may amount to $200 million to $250 million.
He said the lender would extend
the support to the private parties “if they request ADB for such a
facility.”
In auctions state-run Power
Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) conducted
last year, the Calaca plant was sold to Calaca Holdco Inc. (CHI), a
unit of Belgian firm Suez-Tractebel S.A., for $786.53 million; the
Masinloc facility to Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. (MPPCL), a
subsidiary of New York-listed AES Corp. for $930 million; the
25-year right to operate TransCo to the consortium of Monte Oro Grid
Resources, State Grid Corp. of China and Calaca High Power Corp. for
$3.95 billion.
Besides the financing support ADB
is extending to the facilities’ winning bidders, Zhai said the
lender is likewise set to follow through on a proposed $100-million
loan to strengthen rural electric cooperatives through state-run
National Electrification Administration, based on the findings of a
feasibility study to be undertaken this year.
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