PSALM to rebid Malaya plant

THE POWER Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) will rebid the structures, plant equipment and underlying land of the 650-megawatt Malaya thermal power plant in Pililla, Rizal after only one bidder submitted an offer, the agency said on Wednesday.

Ayala-led AC Energy Inc. emerged as the lone bidder in the public bidding of the Malaya plant held on Sept. 18.

“PSALM will commence the second round of bidding as soon as possible once the schedule is cleared with the Board,” PSALM President and Chief Executive Irene B. Garcia said in a statement.

At the start of the bidding process last year, 11 companies submitted to PSALM their letters of intent to participate in the said bidding and purchased the bidding documents.

After the pre-qualification process, four bidders were declared as qualified to bid, namely: AC Energy, FGEN Reliable Energy Holdings Inc., D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc., and DMCI Power Corp. Only AC Energy formally submitted a bid before the bid submission deadline at 12:00 noon.

Since PSALM’s bidding procedures provide that there will be a failure of bidding if only one bid is received, the agency’s head was constrained to declare the failure of bidding.

“While it is unfortunate that the bidding failed, PSALM remains very much committed to privatize the Malaya Power Plant this year. Failure of the first round of bidding will not deter us from trying again, and again, until we are able to successfully dispose of this asset,” Ms. Garcia said.

PSALM said D.M. Wenceslao & Associates’ decision to withdraw from the bidding was “due to current market conditions and uncertainty of supply of fuel.” FGEN Reliable Energy Holdings and DMCI Power did not indicate why they did not submit a bid.

The state-led agency said the reserve bid price for the Malaya plant as well as its underlying land was determined by its board in an executive meeting held on Wednesday morning right before the scheduled public bidding. The meeting was observed by representatives of the Commission on Audit, it added. — Victor V. Saulon