Naga plant’s fate hangs in the balance

The fate of the 153-megawatt Naga coal and diesel power plant complex in Cebu province hangs in the balance as SPC Power Corp. and the Aboitiz Group are both trying to gain control of the assets.

The Aboitiz Group won the bidding for the facility with a P1.088 billion offer but SPC Power is trying to get its hands on the asset by invoking its supposed right to top the amount by a 5-percent premium.

SPC Power already wired the amount—all P1.14 billion of it—with no guarantee as yet that it will get the 25-year contract.

PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., in a text message, clarified that the state firm and SPC had not been in agreement over a “material provision” prior to SPC’s move to send the payment, which includes a 5-percent premium over the winning offer of P1.088 billion.

The state firm has talked to government lawyers, who said that SPC Power may only get control of the coal and diesel facility up to 2020—or co-terminus with its lease on an adjacent area hosting the gas turbine in the Naga power complex—and not up to 2025.

SPC Power’s right to top the bid for the Naga coal and diesel power plant assets stems from that lease on the gas turbine area.

The board of PSALM, which is mandated to manage and sell off the government’s power assets, is set to meet today to resolve the issue.

Ledesma said one of the possibilities was for PSALM to offer to give back the P1.14 billion wired by SPC last week in an effort to secure its right to top the winning bid by the Aboitiz Group.