The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) on Tuesday said only seven of 14 companies have qualified as bidders for the privatization of the 165 megawatt (MW) Casecnan Hydroelectric power plant.
The Casecnan plant is a run-of-river hydro power plant with a limited impounding area located in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija and covered by a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement that lapsed in December 2021.
Among those that qualified were First Gen Corp. through Fresh River Lakes Corp., SN Aboitiz Power Corp. through Neptune Hydro Inc., Meralco PowerGen Corp. through Global Hydro Power Corp., Panasia Energy Inc., AC Energy through GigaAce 11 Inc.; Belgrove Power Corp., and the consortium of EEI Power Corp., Soosan ENS. Co. Ltd., Soosan Industries Co. Ltd. and Mapalad Power Corp.
Dennis Edward Dela Serna, PSALM president and chief executive officer, at the sidelines of the Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum in Manila on Monday, said 14 firms initially expressed interest in the power plant but that some did not qualify and the others withdrew their offers.
Dela Serna said the bidding sale is on an as-is, where-is and cash basis whose deadline had been moved to May 16 this year from the original March 28 schedule.
Proceeds from the privatization will be shared with NIA on a 60:40 basis favoring the state-run firm.
PSALM is tasked with privatizing the government’s power-related assets to service outstanding financial obligations inherited from the National Power Corp. totaling P346.8 billion as of end-2022.
