|
UNFAZED by the delays in the auction of the Palinpinon geothermal
plant, the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management
Corp. (PSALM) is confident it would meet its privatization target
for the year.
Froilan Tampinco, PSALM vice president for asset
management and electricity trading, said his office has a back-up
plan in case the 192.5-megawatt Palinpinon’s privatization does
not push through.
Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of
2001 (EPIRA), the government needs to privatize 70 percent of
state-owned National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) generating and
contracted plants before an open access regime can start in the
power sector.
PSALM, which is tasked to privatize
government’s power plants, has already achieved a 42.8-percent
privatization threshold for power plants and would need only to
auction off a couple of Napocor’s plants to get up to 70 percent.
Tampinco said PSALM has revised its
privatization strategy to reach this target and to make up for the
delay in Palinpinon’s privatization, which has been held back by
the proposed amendments to the facility’s fuel supply contract.
Talks with the Philippine National Oil
Co.-Energy Development Corp., which supplies the geothermal steam
to the facility, however, has yet to bear fruit. Majority control of
the company was earlier bid out by the government to the Lopez
Group’s First Gen Corp. in a state-auction in November 2007.
The PSALM executive said there is a plan to sell
two diesel power plants in lieu of Palinpinon privatization if the
fuel supply issue is not resolved by the third quarter this year.
The diesel plants are the 146.5-megawatt Panay
oil-fired power plant and a 22-megawatt plant in Bohol, which may be
packaged as one.
“We have at least two groups that have
expressed interest to bid for this package,” Tampinco said.
On the other hand, Palinpinon, which was
originally bundled with the Panay plant, had drawn five prospective
bidders before its bidding was postponed in December 2007.
Meanwhile, PSALM said it is currently preparing
the preliminary asset review for the Amlan hydro plant in Amlan,
Negros Oriental, and the six diesel-fired power plants for sale this
year to enable interested investors to begin their due diligence as
soon as possible while awaiting the resolution of Palinpinon’s
issues.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
|
