New valuation for Transco assets out this month

The board of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) is set to approve by the end of this month a new valuation for the company’s sub-transmission assets.

"Hopefully, the board will approve a program and the system valuation," Transco president Alan T. Ortiz said yesterday.

Based on the new valuation, Transco’s assets will be appraised slightly above the previous value, Ortiz said.

"It is up to the board to approve the formula. The P5-billion valuation will change. It will be slightly higher because of the results of the new appraisal," he explained.

He noted that while some of these assets are very old, these are properly maintained.

"The actual condition of the assets, some of them are very old but have been maintained religiously. Actual working condition versus the book value at the time they were installed is maybe zero plus potential income arising from the assets from the efficient use of the assets," he said.

Ortiz said the board is also set to approve the guidelines including the formula for pricing the assets.

"We hope that the Transco board will approve the guidelines for the sale. We have to meet the June 2003 deadline under Republic Act 8196 to dispose of these assets," the Transco head said.

Ortiz said that aside from the Manila Electric Co, (Meralco) and Cagayan Power Electric Co. which have already informed Transco about their plan to bid for the assets, other companies such as Davao Electric and big cooperatives have also signified their interest to participate in the exercise.

Meralco initially was only interested to buy the subtransmission assets of Transco but officials of the utility firms changed their plans after Transco came up with a list of substation assets that are also up for sale.