Old Manila power plant draws 9 bidders

The state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said nine companies participated in the pre-bid conference for the 200-megawatt (MW) Manila Thermal Power Plant (MTPP).

Located at Isla del Provisor in Ermita, the MTPP is one of the retired or decommissioned power facilities of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

During the pre-bid exercise, PSALM discussed the mechanics of the bidding and also addressed issues and concerns raised by the prospective bidders. These included bid security, mode of payment, formation of consortiums, and other legal requisites.

PSALM said it is currently finalizing the draft of the transaction documents for the decommissioned facility that the government has scheduled for sale this semester.

The MTPP is the first retired Napocor asset PSALM hopes to successfully sell as scrap on an "as is, where is" basis.

Commissioned in 1965, the MTPP consists of two operational units, each with a rated capacity of 100 MW. The plant was retired in January 2000.

In addition to the MTPP, Napocor has four other retired plants in its portfolio: the 225-MW Bataan (bunker), the 54-MW Cebu II (diesel), the 22.3-MW General Santos (diesel), and the 108-MW Aplaya (diesel) power plants.