PSALM lines up 8 Napocor assets for sale in 1st qtr

Cebu City – The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has lined up eight power plants for the first batch of the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) assets to be sold in the first quarter of this year.

PSALM vice president for marketing Froilan Tampinco said in a press briefing here that aside from the scheduled auction of the Talomo power plant on Jan. 28 and the Navotas I plant shortly after, another set of power plants will be disposed of in the first three months of 2004.

These include four small hydropower plants located in Agusan, Bohol, Lobo and Amlan, and two decommissioned power plants, the Manila thermal and Bataan thermal power facilities.

Tampinco said PSALM decided to sell these assets first since a transition supply contract (TSC) would not be required anymore before they can be sold to interested buyers.

"Under the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act), we need to get the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for the TSC to go with the sale of these assets,"he explained.

He further explained that the approved TSC will serve as the guide for PSALM and the buyers in the valuation of the assets and the new contracts for the power plants to be sold.

The PSALM board earlier approved the final groupings for the sale of Napocor’s generation assets, consisting of a total of 35 power facilities.

Over the last four years, several different groupings have been considered. These groupings were provisional and subject to refinement as necessary in the light of investor feedback and key developments affecting generation.

Compared to the privatization plan hatched in June 2002, a total of 28 plants were supposed to be sold. Of these, 15 plants will be sold individually and the remaining 13 plants will be bundled into five groupings. – Donnabelle Gatdula