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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities
Management Corp. (Psalm) has put up for sale a plant in Mindanao
after encountering delays in the bidding of several facilities in
the Luzon and the Visayas.
In a statement, Psalm, which is tasked to
privatize state-owned National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) plants,
said it has opened the sale process for the 114-megawatt Iligan I
& II diesel power plant (IDPP 1&2) complex in Northern
Mindanao.
Situated in Mapalad, Dalipuga in Iligan City, or
approximately 74 kilometers southwest of Cagayan de Oro City, the
IDPP 1&2 complex runs on bunker and diesel fuel types for its
start-up and shutdown operations. Both Units 1 and 2 of IDPP were
commissioned in 1993.
Psalm said that interested parties have until 5
p.m. of July 24 to submit a letter signifying their interest to bid
for the asset. A due diligence period for qualified investor groups
is set from July 14 to October 8.
Psalm will then hold a pre-bid conference for
the prospective bidders on August 1, at its main office in Makati
City. The bidding for the Iligan-based power plant complex has been
set on October 15.
The privatization of the facility marks the
beginning of the government’s power privatization program for the
second semester even though Psalm has yet to sell a plant this year.
Psalm originally eyed to privatize the
0.8-megawatt Amlan hydroelectric power plant and the 747-megawatt
Tiwi-MakBan geothermal power complex early on but prospective groups
sued for more time to resolve issues surrounding the facilities’
bidding, which have been rescheduled in the second half of the year.
The privatization of the 192.5-megawatt
Palinpinon geothermal plant this year, on the other hand, has been
“terminated” as Congress has yet to resolve the facility’s
fuel supply contract or geothermal resources supply contract with
Lopez-controlled Energy Development Corp.
The Joint Congressional Power Commission has the
final say on proposed amendments to the long-term steam supply
agreement to be attached to the Palinpinon plant.
“We may put it in the auction block in
2009,” Froilan Tampinco, Psalm vice president for asset management
and electricity trading, said.
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