Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., the agency in charge of privatizing the government’s energy assets, turned over the 32-megawatt Power Barge 104 in Davao City to SPC Power Corp.
The ceremonial turnover was held Thursday to signal the transfer of operational and management responsibilities and duties for PB 104 to the new owner.
“The turnover ceremony for the closing of sale of Power Barge 104 is another manifestation of the strong partnership and collaboration between the government and the private sector that rests on a solid platform to provide reliable and quality supply of power to Filipino consumers,” PSALM officer-in-charge Lourdes Alzona said in a statement.
Alzona said with the expertise and professionalism of SPC, the government had another reliable partner in fostering development in the countryside through power generation.
SPC senior vice-president for finance and administration Alfredo Ballesteros assured PSALM that PB 104 would be in good hands.
“PSALM and SPC have been together in certain projects of the government, working and supporting each other. The sale and now the turn-over of the PB 104 is another opportunity where we have collaborated as partners in the electricity industry. This is another testament to PSALM’s success in privatization and we are proud to be part of it,” he said.
Three negotiating parties submitted offers on April 15. After careful evaluation by the PSALM bids and awards committee, it was announced that SPC met the reserve price and was declared as the negotiating party with the highest offer of P218.899 million.
The turnover ceremony was attended by SPC key officials led president and chief executive Dennis Villareal who signed the joint certificate of turnover and deed of absolute sale.
The two other companies who joined the negotiated sale were Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc.
PB 104 was commissioned in 1981 and started operation in 1985. It is located at Holcim Compound in Ilang, Davao City.
The bidding for PB 104 was declared a failure in October 2013 after the two bidders did not meet the reserve requirement, which PSALM did not disclose.
The move to privatize PB 104 followed the successful turnover of PB 101, 102 and 103 to Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Corp. last year.
PSALM signed an agreement with Trans-Asia for the sale of the three barges for P420 million.
The four 32-MW barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power stations consist of four identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units rated at 8 MW each.
After the successful turnover of PB 104, PSALM is set to put on sale the 850-megawatt decommissioned Sucat Thermal Power Plant.
PSALM plans to rebid the the structures, plant equipment, auxiliaries and accessories of the decommissioned Sucat plant in September.