Government-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) has pushed the deadline for the submission of offers for the 650-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant (MTPP) to May 7 from April 23 in light of the reimposed enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.
PSALM also moved the submission of the documentary deliverables to April 21 from last Wednesday (April 7) originally.
The new timeline will allow negotiating parties more time to complete their documentary deliverables submissions, especially in securing documents that need to be certified by issuing agencies.
Three of the five original bidders are currently in the running for the MTPP’s negotiated sale process, namely: AC Energy, Fort Pilar Energy, and VBB Trucking, Trading, and Consultancy Services. AC Energy is building a diesel power plant near the MTPP site along the shores of Laguna De Bay in Pililla, Rizal.
The MTPP is currently operational and is being dispatched as a Must-Run Unit (MRU) by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. On closing date, however, the MTPP is no longer required to run as an MRU.
Proceeds of the sale will be utilized to augment funds needed to settle PSALM’s obligations that it assumed from the National Power Corporation.
In October last year, the negotiated sale process for the privatization of the plant failed to receive formal bids during the pre-negotiation process because the investor interest was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Energy said the government loses Php1.2 billion annually from maintaining the plant.
