PSALM to assist winning bidders of decommissioned power plants

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has made the assurance that it will assist the winning bidders of the decommissioned power plants of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

During an investors’ forum last week, PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading Froilan Tampinco said one of the main concerns of the potential bidders is the transfer of the assets to their names.

"PSALM values the issues that our investors have raised in the forum. Knowing these concerns will be very helpful in formulating the most effective disposal strategy for the retired plants," Tampinco said.

"By working together, we will surely be able to successfully privatize our decommissioned assets," he added.

"We want to assure the participants that PSALM would provide the winning bidders whatever assistance they may need to effect the full transfer of ownership of the decommissioned assets," he said.

Tampinco also said PSALM would consider the feedback it obtained from the forum discussion in preparing the disposal program and necessary bidding documents for the retired power plants.

The forum, held last Sept. 29, sought "to solicit feedback and recommendations from bidders on the terms and conditions of the sale of the decommissioned plants".

The decommissioned assets scheduled to be privatized are the 225-megawatt (MW) Bataan thermal power plant, the 200-MW Manila thermal power plant, the 22.3-MW General Santos diesel power plant, the 54-MW Cebu II diesel power plant and the 108-MW Aplaya diesel power plant. Since these assets have been "retired" or are non-operational, they are assessed for their scrap value.

The 22 prospective bidders who participated in the forum consisted mainly of construction and steel manufacturing companies given the nature of the assets to be disposed.

Groups from other sectors also attended in response to the invitation previously announced by PSALM.

Complying with environmental standards and securing the necessary permits from concerned local governments were among the issues raised by the forum participants on the sale of the decommissioned assets.