PSALM resets bidding for Malaya power plant

By Lenie Lectura – June 24, 2020
from Business Mirror

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has again moved the deadline of bid submission for the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power Plant (MTPP) and its underlying land to end of next month.

It also moved the dates of other bidding activities due to the lockdown.

The new deadline for bid submission is on July 30 at 12 noon. The release of final Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) to qualified bidders, meanwhile, is on July 14, or not later than seven days prior to bid submission deadline.

The issuance of notice of award is set on August 31 while the issuance of certificate of effectivity of the APA to the winning bidder is on September 23. PSALM will disclose the minimum bid price to qualified bidders immediately after securing the board’s decision on the matter. PSALM’s Board is awaiting feedback from the Commission on Audit relative to the request of PSALM to allow a discounting mechanism that would lower the minimum bid price.

This is PSALM’s third attempt to privatize the Malaya asset.

PSALM has declared a failure of the second round of public bidding because there was only one bid. Pursuant to the bidding rules, PSALM then proceeded to go through the process of negotiated sale with the lone bidder, D.M. Wenceslao.  However, D.M. Wenceslao’s bid offer was below the minimum bid price. Thus, PSALM was constrained to also declare a failure of the negotiated sale.