PSALM plans to sell 145MW Naga Power Plant in 2nd Half

Manila Bulletin 
Published: April 24, 2013 
 The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation will resume the sale of the 145.8-megawatt (MW) Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC) in the second semester.
This comes after the Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed in an opinion that the “right-to-top” provision included in PSALM’s bidding documents was not in violation of the rules on competitive bidding.
“The opinion rendered by the DOJ confirmed PSALM’s previous assertions regarding the sale of the NPPC, and therefore we can now prepare for its bidding,” PSALM president Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. said.
In 2011, PSALM deferred the bidding for the NPPC upon the request of the Joint Congressional Power Commission over an allegedly unfair and illegal condition known as a “right to top” the highest bid previously granted to SPC Power Corporation (SPC) in the Land Lease Agreement (LLA) executed among PSALM, National Power Corporation and SPC in 2009.
The LLA was executed pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement for the Naga Land-based Gas Turbine (LBGT) acquired by SPC through public bidding.
In the Agreement, SPC was granted the right to top the highest bid on the sale or lease of the properties within the vicinity of the LBGT to give the winning bidder the opportunity to expand, subject to the payment of a premium of 5 percent over the highest bid on said adjacent properties. The NPPC is located in the vicinity of the LBGT.
Ledesma added that the NPPC will be privatized without any assigned power supply contract - a merchant plant. The sale will also exclude the land underlying the NPPC.
The NPPC consists of three thermal power plants that use a combination of diesel, bunker oil, and coal as fuel. (JAL)  source