Business Mirror
Posted on September 17, 2014 11:11:00 PM
SEVEN CONTRACTORS have expressed preliminary interest in the contract to overhaul the 300-megawatt (MW) unit of Malaya thermal power plant, an official from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities and Management Corp. (PSALM) said late Tuesday.
“We have seven interested bidders,” Elmer A. Cadano, acting vice-president for PSALM’s Asset Management Division, told reporters in an interview in Pasay City.
Mr. Cadano said the interested parties -- which are both local and foreign companies -- have submitted letters of interest for the project.
The official expressed optimism that most of these prospective bidders will end up participating in the auction.
“Based on our discussions with them, we have four or five that are serious and they’re talking about trying to meet the target schedule,” Mr. Cadano said.
The target schedule he was referring to involves the completion of the project by March 2015, just in time to help provide additional supply for the Luzon grid.
Mr. Cadano earlier that day admitted, however, that schedule will be tight, and the actual timetable will depend on the assessment of the unit’s condition prior to the overhaul.
He added that PSALM has resorted to emergency procurement to fast-track the project completion.
“This is under emergency purchase. It will no longer be a regular bidding because if we do that, we might end up completing the process by December,” Mr. Cadano said.
A pre-bid conference for the Malaya unit overhaul is due to take place this week, while contract awarding will take place by early October.
After come the assessment and actual overhauling works.
Mr. Cadano said that if the plant only needs “basic overhaul,” the process may be complete by March.
However, given the age of the power plant, it might need more than that and some new parts will have to be manufactured first.
PSALM President Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. said earlier on Tuesday the overhaul of the same facility in 1999 cost P98 million.
Maintenance for the facility alone involves P1.6 billion a year.
The 650-MW Malaya thermal power plant -- which is located in Pililla, Rizal -- is one of the projects expected to provide additional supply to address the nearly 300-MW projected shortage next year.
An additional 300-MW reserve capacity is also being considered to ensure the Luzon grid will not experience crippling outages in the summer months.
PSALM’s board in August approved the rehabilitation of the power facility to help it run at full capacity.
The plant has a 300-MW unit and a 350-MW unit. It was first rehabilitated by Korea Electric Power Corp. under a 15-year rehabilitate-operate-maintain management agreement with the government.
The government and the private sector have been working to assure additional supply next year.
President Benigno S. C. Aquino III earlier this week invoked the power crisis provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to address the supply shortage.
The two chambers of congress have yet to work on the President’s request for a joint resolution that would allow the contracting of additional power capacity through PSALM.
Apart from the government, several business groups also committed to provide additional 300 MW under the interruptible load program (ILP).
The ILP is a measure by which big consumers run their own generation sets to ease power demand in exchange for compensation.
A check with the Department of Energy showed a total of 142 MW currently enrolled under ILP, but only 71 MW is expected to be generated at any given time. -- Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano source
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