SPC keeps Naga power plant deal
SPC Power Corp. is staying at the helm of the 153.1-megawatt Naga power plant complex in Cebu, being the lone bidder for a new operations and maintenance service contract, according to state-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp.
“SPC is the winning bidder for Naga,” PSALM president and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said via text message. “We sent invitations for emergency procurement to a number of companies but only SPC responded.”
The timing seems just enough to keep the power plant complex going since SPC, the current operator, had just wound down its service contract extension. PSALM had extended the operations and maintenance service contract of SPC for six months from March 26 to Sept. 25, 2013.
Earlier, SPC (formerly Salcon Power Corp.) and two other companies—Therma Power Visayas Inc. and RD Corp.—expressed interest in bidding for the Naga facility. PSALM had said representatives of these firms attended the pre-bid conference conducted Sept. 12 at the PSALM Office in Makati City. The state-owned firm said the three interested parties had completed the initial requirements of the bid.
PSALM had called off the original bidding last July 24, citing lack of qualified bidders. At the time, Ledesma had said only one of three prospective bidders that submitted “documentary deliverables” was prequalified.
Industry sources said Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., the Aboitiz Group, construction firm D.M. Wenceslao and SPC Power Corp. (via an operations and maintenance agreement with PSALM) had expressed interest in the facility, having joined the pre-bid conference.
The Naga Power Plant located in Colon, Naga City, Cebu province, consists of two thermal power plants and one diesel-fired power plant that use a combination of coal, bunker C oil and diesel as fuel.
These facilities are the 52.5-MW coal-fed Cebu Thermal Power Plant 1; the 56.8-MW Cebu Thermal Power Plant 2; and the 43.8-MW Cebu Diesel Power Plant 1 (consisting of six 7.3-MW diesel-fed power units).
