By Alena Mae S. Flores | Posted on July 18, 2012 | 12:01am
The local government of Misamis Oriental is asking the German operator of the 232-megawatt Mindanao coal plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate to pay nearly P1 billion in real estate taxes.
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. president Emmanuel Ledesma confirmed that Misamis Oriental officials assessed German-led Steag State Power Inc. to be liable for real property taxes of P997.81 million incurred from January 2005 to December 2011.
Steag State Power built and operates the 232-megawatt Mindanao coal plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.
Ledesma said the privatization agency would discuss the proper arrangement for the settlement of real estate taxes. PSALM is tasked under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to manage the assets and liabilities of National Power Corp.
“PSALM is prepared to make arrangements for the settlement of the Steag real property tax based on the assessment level of 15 percent and depreciation of 2 percent, following the parameters of Executive Order No. 27,” Ledesma said.
He said PSALM and the provincial government of Misamis Oriental continued to hold discussions to resolve the real property tax claim.
Steag, one of the largest power firms in Germany, built the coal plant at a cost of $305 million under a build-operate-transfer arrangement with Napocor.
Several local government units have been trying to collect real property taxes from independent power producers by virtue of the Local Government Code.
The build-operate contracts of power projects, however, provides that Napocor should shoulder the payment for the real property tax, since the ownership of the power projects will be turned over to the government.
The Office of the Municipal Treasurer of Pagbilao, Quezon, for example, issued a warrant of levy for non-payment of real property taxes on the 600-MW Pagbilao coal plant last year. source
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