Manila Bulletin
By Myrna M. Velasco
Published: March 31, 2013
To rehabilitate and uprate the capacity of the Power Barges, including the one in Davao City, the government will need to earmark a budget of P1.5 billion, according to the Mindanao Development Authority.
The agency, which is in close coordination with the Department of Energy (DoE) in finding solutions to the Mindanao power crisis, opined that given the scale of allocation for the power barges, it will be better for the government to just divest them to interested private buyers and without any condition for these to be relocated to Mindanao.
“Rehabilitation is estimated to cost government P1.5 billion, hence, better to privatize since it is also expensive to maintain and operate,” MinDA director Romeo Montenegro said.
He added that in the case of Power Barge 104 which is currently docked at the Holcim Compound in Ilang, Davao City, its capacity has to be uprated to 32 megawatts from its current generation of just 9.0MW.
“With the entire process to realize transfer to Mindanao (which is) expected to take two years, the power barges may no longer be needed with coal power projects (of 500MW capacity) already in place starting 2015,” the MinDA official said.
The agency noted that this sentiment has already been communicated to asset-seller Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), but it has not swayed the company so far into changing course as to the barges’ divestments.
PSALM already offered the barges to interested parties through several competitive auction processes, but all these ended in failed biddings.
Relative to the planned transfer of the assets to Mindanao, it was also gathered that PSALM has not even started securing yet the necessary permits from the proposed docking sites.
The privatization of the power barges had been announced as early as 2010. Three years had passed with barely a process getting accomplished.
The original intent of the energy department would be to line up the facilities as ‘supply shoring-up measure’ during this May 2013 elections. Apparently though, that is not possible now.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla indicated that he is willing to give the barges “another try at the auction block;” but if that still fails, he is already willing to have the plan shelved. (MMV) source
The agency, which is in close coordination with the Department of Energy (DoE) in finding solutions to the Mindanao power crisis, opined that given the scale of allocation for the power barges, it will be better for the government to just divest them to interested private buyers and without any condition for these to be relocated to Mindanao.
“Rehabilitation is estimated to cost government P1.5 billion, hence, better to privatize since it is also expensive to maintain and operate,” MinDA director Romeo Montenegro said.
He added that in the case of Power Barge 104 which is currently docked at the Holcim Compound in Ilang, Davao City, its capacity has to be uprated to 32 megawatts from its current generation of just 9.0MW.
“With the entire process to realize transfer to Mindanao (which is) expected to take two years, the power barges may no longer be needed with coal power projects (of 500MW capacity) already in place starting 2015,” the MinDA official said.
The agency noted that this sentiment has already been communicated to asset-seller Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), but it has not swayed the company so far into changing course as to the barges’ divestments.
PSALM already offered the barges to interested parties through several competitive auction processes, but all these ended in failed biddings.
Relative to the planned transfer of the assets to Mindanao, it was also gathered that PSALM has not even started securing yet the necessary permits from the proposed docking sites.
The privatization of the power barges had been announced as early as 2010. Three years had passed with barely a process getting accomplished.
The original intent of the energy department would be to line up the facilities as ‘supply shoring-up measure’ during this May 2013 elections. Apparently though, that is not possible now.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla indicated that he is willing to give the barges “another try at the auction block;” but if that still fails, he is already willing to have the plan shelved. (MMV) source
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