|
INVESTOR
appetite seems to remain upbeat in the power sector amid
the squabbles that have hounded the government the past
few weeks, businessman and consumer advocate Raul T.
Concepcion said Monday.
In a
press conference, he said the necessary institutions and
mechanisms in power sector have already been put in
place to make sure that the reforms prescribed in the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act will work.
The
government, through the Power Sector Assets and
Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), targets to
privatize 50 percent of the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor)
generating capacity and the 25-year concession of the
National Transmission Corp.
Concepcion
also expressed optimism over the government’s bid to
privatize the 25-year Transco concession, saying that
most of the potential bidders are large local companies.
“But at
the end of the day, there’s always an element of
uncertainty,” said Concepcion.
Considering the policies and institutions in place,
according to Concepcion, the government must not be
feeble and predictable.
Concepcion
said there is a need for the government to address the
issue if companies can enter into build-
operate-transfer contracts. “And these are the real
foreign investors that we need to come in the country
without having to enter into shambles [bribing] with the
government.”
“This
has been a growing concern, since we do not see the
government addressing these issues. And the more it is
not addressed, the more it will swell and have a
multiplier effect on all industries,” said Concepcion.
In a
related development, PSALM said it is confident of
gaining the full support and participation of the
qualified investor groups in the bidding exercise for
the 600-megawatt (MW) Batangas (Calaca) coal-fired
thermal power plant today, October 16.
PSALM’s
confidence was bolstered after it successfully worked
with the Napocor in attaching a substantial power-supply
contract to the Calaca power facility.
The
Batangas-based power plant has been allocated a
substantial 287-MW power-supply contract or about 48
percent of the plant’s rated capacity, providing the new
owner a ready market for the electricity that the Calaca
power facility will generate.
The
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will assume the biggest
portion of the contracted energy, which is equivalent to
169 MW.
The
power-supply contract, which is part of PSALM’s
commitment to accelerate the privatization program of
the government, adequately addresses investors’
apprehension on acquiring the power facility due to the
lack or insufficiency of a power-supply allocation.
The
Calaca facility was first offered to prospective
investors in June 2005, but the auction was canceled
after two of the three qualified bidders backed out
shortly before the deadline for submission of offers.
The
second round of bidding, which was held on April 27,
2006, was also declared a failure because only one
bidder made it to the designated venue within the
deadline.
The
subsequent process of open reverse auction, likewise,
failed because the price proposals submitted by the two
bidders were below the reserve price. |
