Salcon Power is lone bidder for Malaya coal plant

Manila, Philippines -  State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has received only one bid for the P600-million contract to operate and maintain the Malaya coal plant in Rizal province.

“Salcon Power Corp. (SPC) was the lone bidder with a bid below the approved budget for contract,” said PSALM president and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr.

“Award of the contract is subject to detailed bid evaluation and post-qualification,” Ledesma said.

Early this month, two investor groups participated in the pre-bid conference wherein technical aspects of the project were discussed.

PSALM allotted as much as P555.828 million of its 2013 corporate operating budget as a payment for the one year operation and maintenance of the 650-MW Malaya thermal power plant located in Pililla, Rizal.

The joint venture of SPC Light Co. and SPC Power Corp. currently operate the Malaya power plant.

In October last year, the firms won the contract through a P715-million offer, within the P716.8-million allotted budget.

PSALM, formed by the 2001 Electric Power Industry Reform Act, is in charge of privatizing government power assets as well as managing National Power Corp.’s power plants and debt. It buys the fuel requirements of the state-owned power plants while awaiting the asset’s privatization.

Meanwhile, SPC Power reported to the local bourse that its profits more than tripled in the second quarter.

“The strong performance of associates and new businesses continued to push higher the consolidated comprehensive income of the group to P504 million in the second quarter,” SPC Power said in its financial report.

The latest figures, which were backed by a 62-percent growth in consolidated revenues to P662 million, were better than the P143.2 million earnings in the same period last year.

The Panay and Bohol diesel-fueled power plants of subsidiary SPC Island Power Corp. sold more electricity in the second quarter due to higher demand in the summer, SPC Power said.

In the first half, total comprehensive income surged to P815.5 million from P186.4 million a year ago.

SPC Power said it was “buoyed by higher earnings from associates and income contributions from new subsidiaries.”

Late last year, SPC Malaya Power Corp. began operating and maintaining the Malaya thermal plant.

Other subsidiaries of SPC Power are Bohol Light Co. Inc. SPC Island and SPC Electric Co. Inc. It also has a stake in Mactan Electric Co. Inc. and Kepco SPC Power Corp.

SPC, formerly Salcon Power, is a venture company led by the Salcon consortium. In March, SPC Power bagged a P148.99-million, six-month contract to continue operating and maintaining the Naga power plant complex in Cebu.