PSALM crafts blueprint for sale of properties

MANILA, Philippines - The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. crafted a blueprint for the management and privatization of its real estate properties.

PSALM president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr said the government corporation is mandated by RA 9136 or the power reform law to ensure the orderly privatization of government’s power and related disposable assets.

“Aside from the transmission business, power assets and independent power producer (IPP) contracts which, for the past years, have been the focus of PSALM’s privatization activities, the real estate assets of PSALM are likewise a potential source of revenue for the liquidation of its financial obligations,” Ledesma said.

The goal is to aid in the further reduction of PSALM’s residual debt, as well as help in the government’s energy security thrust and facilitate local and national development by identifying possible sites for future power facilities and/or new economic ventures, he also said.

Under the plan, dubbed as the “Strategic Plan for PSALM’s Real Estate Assets: Towards Debt Liquidation, Energy Security and Development” PSALM categorizes various land and land holdings, and provides possible approaches to maximizing their potentials, either through privatization or asset management.

Psalm’s real estate assets consist of 6,1414 lots with an aggregate area of 102 million square meters. Among the legally-feasible modes identified in the plan are through outright sale, lease and operation and management or maintenance by another person or entity.

The plan proposes to conduct the privatization program for the sites of its decommissioned power plants, lands not related to power generation, ands under land lease agreements, which were previously offered for sale to new power plant owners or successor generating companies (SGCs) but remain unsold and lands adjacent to or near privatized power plants.

Ledesma said PSALM hopes to set into motion the privatization program for its real estate assets next year after board approval.