By Lenie Lectura - February 14, 2020
PROCEEDS from last year’s
privatization programs of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management
Corp. (PSALM) ballooned to P71.97 billion from P33.34 billion in 2018.
“PSALM’s total privatization
proceeds in 2019 [are] way higher than the actual privatization proceeds in
2018 which was at P33.34 billion,” said PSALM President Irene Joy Garcia.
The 115-percent increase was
attributed to the sale of real property assets, efficient collection of IPPA
(Independent Power Producer Agreement) lease payments and aggressive collection
of past delinquent power accounts, added the PSALM chief.
“We met all the targets of PSALM for
2019 except for the privatization of the Malaya Power Plant,” she added.
PSALM has started soliciting
bid invites for the privatization of the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power
Plant and its underlying land located at Brgy. Malaya, Pililla, Rizal.
The bid opening is set on April 15,
2020.
PSALM is determined to privatize the
asset, which is sold on an ‘as-is-where-is’ basis, by taking the necessary
steps to adjust the minimum bid price. It has also conducted valuation studies
on MTPP and its underlying land in determining the reserve bid price.
“For 2020, we will continue this momentum
and aggressively work on privatizing the remaining NPC assets,” added Garcia.
Among the power assets up for sale
are the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan Hydroelectric Power Plant (CBKHPP) and
Casecnan multipurpose hydropower plant.
Garcia said the state firm
is currently conducting a study on options for the sale of the
728-megawatt CBKHPP in Laguna and the 140-MW Casecnan multipurpose hydropower
plant in Nueva Ecija.
“We are hoping we can get help from
ADB [Asian Development Bank], which was the direction set by the DOF
[Department of Finance]. We’ve already started working with DOF for us to be
able to get assistance from ADB for the studies for the feasibility also for
determining the structure that will be best suitable on how we can privatize
it,” said Garcia.
The CBK hydro facility consists of
the 22.6-MW Caliraya in Lumban, 20.8-MW Botocan in Majayjay and the 684.6-MW
Kalayaan I and II in Kalayaan, Laguna.
J-Power and Sumitomo Corp. of Japan
operate the CBK power plants.
The 140-MW Casecnan project,
meanwhile, was built following the signing of a build-operate-transfer contract
between the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and California Energy
Casecnan Water and Energy Company Inc. in 1994.
CE Casecnan’s contract with the
government will lapse on April 5, 2022 while that of J-POWER will end on
February 7, 2026.
PSALM, she added, will also pursue
the auction for the contracted capacity of the 210MW Mindanao coal plant
in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.
Located in Misamis Oriental, the
Mindanao coal plant was constructed in 2006 for a 25-year Power Purchase
Agreement under a build-operate-transfer scheme that ends in 2031 with Steag
State Power Inc. of Germany.
The power plant is 51-percent owned
by Steag; 34 percent, Aboitiz Power; and 15 percent, La Filipina.
So far, PSALM has privatized
31generation assets including the Magat HPP,Tiwi-Makban geothermal power
plants, Pantabangan-Masiway HPPs, Masinloc coal-fired thermal power plant and
Batangas (Calaca) coal-fired thermal.
PSALM is the entity created by the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act, the law that restructured the power
industry by privatizing the assets of National Power Corp.
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