Following a Supreme Court decision, the Aboitiz Power Group has been awarded the 25-year contract for the rehabilitation of the 153.1-megawatt (MW) Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC) in Cebu.
In a disclosure, Aboitiz Power said its subsidiary Therma Power Visayas Inc. (TPVI) received the Notice of Judgement from the SC on October 5.
The Supreme Court upheld the validity of a public bidding in 2013 held by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) for the NPPC, but negated the condition and granted the right to top to SPC Power Corp.
The Aboitiz subsidiary was the top bidder with a P1.09-billion offer versus the only other bidder, SPC Power Corp. with P858.99 million.
The latter exercised its right to win the bid with a P1.14-billion payment from its NPPC-Land Lease Agreement (LLA) with PSALM in 2009.
In its latest ruling, the SC set aside the Asset Purchase Agreement and the LLA between the SPC and PSALM, and directed the latter to execute the decision in favor of TPVI.
Former Senator Sergio Osmeña III questioned the right to top, saying it violated the Republic Act (RA) no. 9136, also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) Law and RA no. 9184 or the Procurement Law.
“We are positive that decision is favorable. We hope that decision is implemented soon,” Aboitiz Power president and COO Antonio Moraza said.
“We just got copy of SC decision. We are reviewing it and will refer to [Department of Energy],” PSALM OIC Lourdes Alzona said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has asked PSALM to create a detailed presentation of the case to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said.
