PSALM to rebid contract for Malaya power plant

MANILA, Philippines – The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) will rebid the P600-million contract to operate a coal power plant in Rizal province.

“PSALM will conduct a rebidding for the procurement of the Malaya operation and maintenance service contract,” said PSALM president and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma.

However, Ledesma did not disclose the timeline for the new round of bidding.

This, after the company declared last month’s auction a failure as only one firm submitted an offer.

Salcon Power Corp. (SPC) was the lone bidder with a bid below the approved budget for contract.

PSALM allotted as much as P555.828 million of its 2013 corporate operating budget as a payment for the one-year operation and maintenance of the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya thermal power plant located in Pililla, Rizal.

Early last month, two investor groups participated in the pre-bid conference wherein technical aspects of the project were discussed.

The joint venture of SPC Light Co. and SPC Power Corp. currently operate the Malaya power plant.

In October last year, the firms won the contract through a P715-million offer, within the P716.8-million allotted budget.

PSALM, formed by the 2001 Electric Power Industry Reform Act, is in charge of privatizing government power assets as well as managing National Power Corp.’s power plants and debt. It buys the fuel requirements of state-owned power plants while awaiting privatization.