PSALM eyes bidders for all Malaya plant assets

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is seeking interested parties for all assets related to the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power Plant (TPP) to start its privatization process in December.

In a statement, PSALM said it is now calling interested bidders to signify their interest to participate in the privatization of the Malaya TTP and its underlying land located at Brgy. Malaya, Pililla, Rizal.

PSALM will accept letters of interest (LOI) from interested parties starting Oct. 5 until Nov. 19.

The state-run firm will hold a pre-bid conference on Oct. 17 to solicit any comments and concerns 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 non-refundable participation fee of P150,000 on or before Nov. 20.

Only interested parties which submitted LOIs would be allowed to participate in the privatization of the assets. It has set the bid opening on Dec. 14.

PSALM president and CEO Irene Joy Besido-Garcia earlier said the agency was  eyeing to tap government financial institutions like the Development Bank of the Philippines or third party evaluators to determine the valuation of the Malaya TPP before it can start privatizing the power asset.

The agency will no longer put the three-year must-run condition of the power plant in the terms of the Malaya plant sale.

Removing this would make the power asset more attractive to the private sector, Garcia said.

The winning bidder will no longer be required to convert the diesel-fired facility to run on coal or liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The Malaya TPP was designated as a must-run unit (MRU) by the DOE to address supply deficiency when operating power plants in the grid suddenly bog down or become unavailable.

It will operate as an MRU until the DOE finalizes its privatization schedule.

Located in Pililia, Rizal, the Malaya TPP consists of a 300-MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with a conventional boiler.

It was last rehabilitated in 1995 by Korea Electric Power Corp. under a 15-year rehabilitate-operate-manage-maintain agreement.