No firm commitment from S’pore firm on Transco

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it has not received any firm commitment from Singapore Power Corp. to enter into a negotiated deal for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).

"(We) haven’t heard from Singapore (Power) since Aug. 22 when they submitted their formal interest," PSALM vice president Froilan Tampinco said in an interview last Friday.

Singapore Power is the sole entity that has expressed interest in bidding for the 25-year lease contract for Transco.

Last week, President Arroyo and the PSALM board gave the go signal for the negotiated sale of Transco.

Up to now, however, Singapore Power has not made an official statement on whether it would enter into a negotiated deal with Transco or not.

PSALM said there is a possibility that the negotiations with Singapore Power may bog down especially if the government will not get the "right price" for the assets. The government expects to raise some $2 billion from the privatization of Transco assets.

The other options being considered by PSALM are holding No firm.another bidding or deferment of the Transco privatization concentrating on the sale of the generating assets of National Power Corp. (Napocor).

While waiting for the negotiations with Singapore Power to start, PSALM is preparing for the sale of the first batch of the generating assets which will raise $2 billion worth of additional revenues for the government.

"We are preparing the individual information memorandum for each of the assets up for sale. Each batch of assets would need to be approved by the PSALM board. That is why we have already lined up the assets we intend to sell. We are already preparing the schedule of each batch,"Tampinco said.

Tampinco said the PSALM board is expected to approve the line-up and the schedule of assets to be sold in its board meeting within the month.