Bidding for Transco to start even without franchise bill

LAPU-LAPU CITY — President Arroyo ordered Energy Secretary Vicente Perez yesterday to immediately bid out the National Transmission Corp. without waiting for Congress to pass the Transco franchise bill.

The President disclosed her directive to Perez after she led the ceremonial groundbreaking here for the Cebu-Mactan interconnection project of Transco that will be built in Barangay Pusok.

The President said this $32.9-million project, funded by the Miyazawa Fund of Japan, is being undertaken by Transco led by its president, Allan Ortiz.

Ortiz told the President that under Republic Act 9184 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), the government is given 90 days to complete the bidding process for Transco.

Under the Epira, Transco is one of the three companies under the National Power Corp. (Napocor), along with Gencor and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

"I instructed Secretary Perez to bid out Transco, which I was told already has five interested bidders," the President said.

"The most important beneficiaries of this bidding are, if it is successful, the Visayas because it will receive a cheap and very efficient supply of electricity," she said.

The President said the Department of Energy (DOE) would proceed with the bidding out of Transco’s transmission lines based on the legal opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and supported by opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who voted against the Epira.

"Senator Enrile pointed out that we don’t even need a separate franchise for Transco, so we’re now proceeding with the bidding," Mrs. Arroyo said.

However, the President cited Enrile when she said "for additional comfort, the franchise bill, if approved by Congress, would help attract investors and other private sector business to enter into the transmission business rather than (leave it to) the government, which has its own budgetary deficit problems."