PSALM sets December 14 as bidding date for Malaya Thermal Power Plant

By Lenie Lectura – October 8, 2018
from Business Mirror

THE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has set on December 14 the bidding for the privatization of the 650-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant (MTPP).

In a bid invite issued over the weekend, the state firm said it would accept letters of interest (LOIs) from interested parties starting October 5 until November 19. 

Only interested parties who submitted LOIs would be allowed to participate in the privatization of the MTPP, including its underlying land located at Barangay Malaya, Pililla, Rizal.

PSALM will hold a prebid conference on October 17 to solicit any comments and concerns that interested bidders may have on the asset sale provisions.  

As a prerequisite to the receipt of the bidding package, interested parties must execute a confidentiality agreement and an undertaking and pay a nonrefundable fee in the amount of P150,000 as participation fee on or before November 20.

The plant, which consists of a 300-MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with a conventional boiler, is a “must-run unit” (MRU) that provides backup power in instances when supply is deficient or unavailable in the Luzon grid. 

PSALM President Irene Joy Garcia said the Department of Energy (DOE) recently allowed the privatization without the MRU requirement. 

“We were looking at the general condition of the plant and the value, and the supply and demand. We are looking at all these factors and we figured that it might not be very attractive to bidders if you impose that requirement they have to run for three years,” Garcia said.

PSALM will tap a third-party evaluator to assess the power plant.

“We are still in talks with several groups.  We have not yet finalized that. We might procure the services of GFIs [government financial institutions] like the Development Bank of the Philippines. We are considering them. Alternatively, we have a budget for third-party valuation. We can bid it out, as well,” Garcia said.