MANILA, Philippines ? The privatization agency Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is in talks with four groups of prospective investors on the sale of a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Calaca town in Batangas province, outside Manila, PSALM president Jose Ibazeta said.

Ibazeta also disclosed that PSAM was talking with ?one or possibly two? investors on the 620-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in Limay, Bataan, northwest of Manila.

He declined to name the interested groups.

Earlier, Aboitiz Power Corp. president and chief executive Erramon Aboitiz said his company was considering bidding for the Calaca plant, although no concrete decision had been made yet.

The beverage and food conglomerate San Miguel Corp., in an aggressive diversification mode, confirmed it was interested in buying the Limay plant through subsidiary San Miguel Energy Corp. The company has submitted a letter of interest to PSALM.

Ibazeta told reporters the sale of the two plants could be completed ?within the year.?

The sale of either of the two plants is crucial in the implementation of ?open access,? which will allow large power users to choose power suppliers under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, which provides for privatizing power generation to make the cost of electricity competitive.

Before open access can be implemented, the law mandates privatization of 70 percent of the state-owned National Power Corp.?s (Napocor?s) generating capacity in Luzon and the Visayas, and the transfer of 70 percent of Napocor capacity covered by independent power producer (IPP) contracts to IPP administrators.

Ibazeta said the sale of the Calaca and Limay plants would push the privatization level to over 80 percent, more than is required to implement open access.

PSALM ended 2008 with a privatization level of 73 percent of Napocor generation capacity, but this dropped to 56 percent in January after the Emerald Energy Corp. consortium, which had won an auction for the Calaca plant, dropped out.

Emerald Energy, backed by Belgian power firm Suez Tractebel, terminated the asset purchase agreement for the Calaca plant, claiming that the government failed to fulfill the terms and conditions of the deal.

The Limay plant was twice put on auction last year but both auctions were declared failures because only one company qualified for the bidding. Amy R. Remo; with editing by INQUIRER.net