State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. said it will conduct the next round of bidding for the 650-megawatt Malaya power plant and its underlying land in Pililla, Rizal by early next year.
“By early 2020, we hope to do the next round of bidding for the Malaya power plant,” PSALM president Irene Garcia said.
Garcia said the agency was waiting for comments from the Commission on Audit on the plan to bring down the minimum bid price through a COA-approved discounting procedure. “Hopefully, we will get a response from COA sometime in January 2020. We will also continue to dispose of real property assets,” she said.
PSALM declared the second round of bidding on Nov. 22 as a failure after two of the three interested bidders said they could not meet the minimum bid price of P4.48 billion. The negotiated bidding with the remaining bidder also failed.
“Malaya plant is already way past its commercial life. There are two units but only unit 2 is working…In terms of book value, the value is really low but if you look at COA guidelines and valuation of government assets you want to sell off, they have a lot of regulations,” Garcia said.