No winner yet in bidding for Napocor gas turbines

The bid for eight gas turbines of Abu Dhabi-based Delta Power International may be revoked by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) if the former fails to submit all necessary documents by tomorrow.

Napocor vice president Asisclo T. Gonzaga said Delta's bid application will be revoked if it fails to submit a letter of credit (L/C) to cover its security proposal. The security bid replaces the standard bid bond amounting to 10 percent of the bid price.

Delta International's bid price for the eight land-based gas turbines is $24 million which means that the amount registered in the L/C must be at least P2.4 million.

The only other bid -- $16.4-million -- was submitted by the International Trade Management Inc. (ITM).

Officials said that in the event the Delta offer is revoked, government may be forced to call for a negotiated sale since they had already held two failed bids. The third auction held this month resulted in Delta International's having submitted the highest bid.

The second public auction had only ITM as the sole bidder resulting in the declaration of a failed bid. General Electric Inc. and Advance Resources had earlier expressed interest in making a bid but they failed to meet the deadline.

The Napocor is disposing of the eight land-based gas turbines as it slowly moves away from fossil-fired power plants. At the same time, proceeds of the sale will be utilized to pay for its outstanding liabilities amounting to over P60 billion.

The turbines for sale are: three Malaya gas turbines with 30-megawatt (MW) capacity each, the 30-MW Sucat gas turbine, and four turbines in Bataan with a combined capacity of 120-MW. The Malaya and Bataan turbines were built in 1989 while the Sucat turbine followed four years after.