Publicly listed Vivant Corp. is set to bid for the four diesel-fired power barges that will be auctioned off in October by state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.
After it submits the initial requirements set by PSALM, Vivant said in a statement that it shall proceed with the due diligence of Power Barges 101, 102, 103 and 104 to assess their technical and financial viability.
Interested parties like Vivant have until 12 noon of Oct. 9 to submit their respective offers, which will be opened for initial evaluation on the same day.
Vivant is one of the eight companies reportedly vying for the four power barges, each of which has an installed capacity of 32 megawatts.
The positive response from the private sector was said to be due to the new terms and the revisions made by PSALM in the bidding terms. PSALM needed to revise the contract provisions as it failed in its three attempts last year to dispose the barges as the terms provided for the winning bidders were deemed risky by prospective investors.
The state agency was able to attract only one investor, namely Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., which then refused to match the acquisition prices set by the government.
Based on the revised terms, PSALM has agreed to sell the power barges on an “as is, where is” basis, which means that “no purchase request or purchase order will be attached to the sale agreement.”
The Iloilo-based power barges (101, 102 and 103) will be offered as one package and the Davao-based power barge 104 as a separate package. The transfer to Mindanao will no longer be a requirement for PBs 101, 102 and 103, but the winning bidder for PB 104 will be required to operate the barge in Mindanao for at least five years.
PBs 101, 102, 103 and 104 are nominal barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power stations.