PSALM to bid out P114-M contract

Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. is looking for suppliers that will deliver P114 million worth of local coal to fuel the 146-megawatt Naga power complex in Cebu.

This will be the second time PSALM will conduct a bid to secure 25,000 metric tons of local coal after it failed in its first attempt.

PSALM vice president Conrad Tolentino said the bidding conducted last Nov. 13 failed because the offer submitted by a lone bidder had been declared ineligible.

The company, which Tolentino declined to identify, was unable to comply with the documentary requirements.

For this second round of procurement, PSALM will hold a prebid conference in November, setting the deadline for the submission of bids on Dec. 5.

PSALM continues to manage the Naga power complex, having failed in auctioning off the facility early this year.

Currently, PSALM is offering investor groups a P319-million contract to operate and maintain the Naga power complex. Deadline of bid submissions is on Nov. 20.

But investor interest in the facility remains lukewarm. Only one company expressed an interest in the contract when it attended the pre-bid conference last Nov. 7,

Currently, SPC Power Corp. is in charge of the operation and maintenance of the Naga power plant. Its six-month contract should have expired last Sept. 25, but it was extended by another three months.

Prior to that, National Power Corp. and SPC Power had entered into rehabilitate-operate-maintain-and-manage agreement that expired in March 25 this year, prompting a search for another entity that would operate the facility.

The Naga complex consists of three thermal power plants that use a combination of diesel, bunker oil and coal as fuel.

These are the coal-fired 50-MW Cebu thermal power plant 1 and 56.8-MW Cebu thermal power plant 2; and the 39-MW Cebu diesel power plant 1. Amy R. Remo