Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. said it plans to privatize the four-hectare National Power Corp. compound in Quezon City and its 44-hectare Bagac property in Bataan next year.
PSALM president Irene Joy Besido-Garcia told reporters the two big real estates would be the first to be privatized in 2019.
“We are also going to do master planning of the Napocor property in Quezon City, the one located at the corner of Quezon Avenue and BIR Road,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the Napocor compound, which currently hosts the office of Napocor, National Transmission Corp., National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and PSALM, is an asset which was transferred to PSALM for privatization.
“Of course, we cannot privatize it instantly because there are offices within, so we need to do a very careful master planning of the entire compound and the needs of the people using the current offices and then we have to decide on how to optimize the use of that land,” she said.
Garcia said PSALM would conduct a third-party valuation of the properties and determine the best privatization option for each.
“We can do it in one building to house all the offices and if it is best to do it via a joint venture. That is why it is important to start off with very efficient master planning of the entire compound. Once we have that, then we can do the privatization based on the outcome of the master planning,” she said.
PSALM will conduct the master plan study before the end of the year, with the privatization slated for 2019.
“When you say privatization, different structures because it can be such that we are really not selling it off but it can be joint venture with a private entity where there is going to be profit sharing in the end,” Garcia said.
“We have to study that because may be we can get more benefit with a joint venture arrangement against an as is, where is sale of the land,” she said.
PSALM wants to conduct the master planning on a per asset basis because of the differences in feature of each property.
She said the Bagac property is also a “very substantial” property that could bring value to PSALM.
The Bagac property is located right beside Las Cazas Filipinas de Acuzar Resort, and includes existing recreation facilities which could be further developed.
“We also need a masterplan for that and how best to utilize and get optimal profits from that [Bagac]. I cannot say at the moment if it will be just a sale of land or the route of going into a joint venture. It’s all going to depend on the outcome of the master plan,” she said.
PSALM is also currently bidding out the land of the Manila Thermal Power Plant in Paco, Manila covering 20,975 square meters. PSALM set the minimum bid price at P885.746 million. The bid submission deadline is Aug. 15.
PSALM through the Philippine Economic Zone Authority has also started the suitability study of its real estate assets for conversion into economic sites.
PSALM earlier said nine sites are situated in various locations in Metro Manila, Pampanga, and Bataan.
“Converting some of PSALM’s real estate assets into economic zones is an important privatization undertaking. Leasing out its land properties will provide it with a long-term opportunity to generate sustainable revenue while the government remains the property owner,” PSALM said.
PSALM was created under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to manage National Power Corp.’s assets and liabilities.