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ENERGY
officials will weigh the pros and cons of entering into
a negotiated contract with the lone prequalified bidder
for the 25-year concession of the National Transmission
Corp. (Transco), as requested by the bidder, Malacańang
said Thursday. Related Story on A6
Press
Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in an interview that the
government’s decision on the request of Citadel Holdings
and Italian partner Terna SPA—for a negotiated contract
with the consortium instead of a rebidding of Transco,
considering it is the fourth failed bid and the
consortium was the only one that bothered to meet all
requirements on time—would depend on how favorable such
negotiation would be for the government.
“We have
to follow the rules of bidding and if certain exceptions
are allowed under the rules, then I guess some leeway
can be exercised by the DOE. But this has to be covered
by the original rules. The objective of the government
is to implement the privatization and the best terms
possible that will benefit ultimately the stakeholders
specifically the consumers,” Bunye said.
He
added: “A review is under way. Let’s finish the review
process. If negotiation is allowed after the review then
we will stick to that.”
Bunye
said that all the concerned consortium could do now is
to wait for DOE to complete the review process.
“I’m
aware the President is very much interested in early
privatization but we don’t want to make shortcuts. If
the process has to be reviewed, so be it, but it has to
be clear to all the stakeholders, all the parties
involved,” he said.
Bunye
said the government respects the opinion of Italian
Ambassador Rubens Fedele, who said on Wednesday that any
move the government takes regarding Transco’s
privatization would have an impact on future Italian
investments in the Philippines.
“That’s
his point of view. We respect his opinion but we would
like the DOE to address the issues relative to the
bidding for this particular transmission facility,”
Bunye said.
In a
letter to BusinessMirror on Thursday, Ambassador Fedele
clarified he had no intention to put pressure on the
decision-making of officials concerned. He said the
Italian government, while interested in the outcome of
the bidding and the review, “was not weighing in on the
issue, and that State relations were not involved.”
Bunye
said the government’s “general” message to the Citadel-Terna
group is “where it will be more efficient for private
parties to handle operations like this, that will be
done.”
“That’s
the whole essence of the privatization program of the
government but as I repeatedly emphasized, we have to
follow the process. We don’t want to take any shortcuts
but all concerns of the stakeholders will be addressed,”
he said.
The
consortium, the only one of three prequalified bidders
to submit a bid for the Transco concession on Monday,
had said that it is “willing to negotiate the price of
the concession even up to the number” that the Power
Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm)
is targetting for the concession, or $3 billion. |
