31 Oct 2014
Effective midnight of 31 October 2014, Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water) will officially take over the operations of the 218-megawatt (MW) Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP), the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation has reported.
PSALM made the announcement after it confirmed K-Water's full payment of the purchase price for the Angat HEPP on Friday, 31 October 2014.
"With K-Water's payment of the purchase price, government can finally close the highly anticipated sale of the Angat HEPP. The actual turnover of operations of the Bulacan-based hydro plant to its new owner will commence at 2400 hours of 31 October 2014," PSALM President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. announced.
K-Water won the bidding conducted by PSALM for the Angat HEPP on 28 April 2010 with its bid of USD441 million (USD440,880,000). It bested five (5) other bidders which also submitted bids, namely: First Gen Northern Energy Corp. (USD365 million); San Miguel Corp. (USD312.50 million); SN-Aboitiz Power Pangasinan, Inc. (USD256 million); Trans-Asia Oil & Energy Development Corp. (USD237 million); and DMCI Power Corp. (USD188.89 million).
The Supreme Court (SC), however, suspended the asset sale on 24 May 2010 through a status quo ante order after a complaint filed by petitioners Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), Inc., et al questioned the legality of PSALM's conduct of the bidding for the Angat HEPP. But on 09 October 2012, the SC upheld the legality and validity of the conduct of the said bidding process and the subsequent issuance of a Notice of Award to K-Water. Despite a Motion for Partial Reconsideration lodged by IDEALS Inc. on the decision, the SC en banc upheld its decision and resolved to deny the said motion "with finality" on 13 November 2012.
With the SC clearance, PSALM issued the Certificate of Effectivity (CoE) of the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) to K-Water on 02 September 2013, effectively setting in motion the closing of the sale. K-Water, for its part, obliged and posted the required performance bond worth USD8.82 million (USD8,817,600.00) on 12 September 2013.
Located in San Lorenzo, Norzagaray in Bulacan, the Angat HEPP consists of four main units, each with a 50-MW capacity. The units were commissioned between 1967 and 1968. To augment its operation, the plant uses five (5) auxiliary units with a total capacity of 46 MW. The 18-MW Auxiliary Units 1, 2 & 3 are part of the sale, while the 28-MW Auxiliary Units 4 & 5, which are owned by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, were not part of the bidding.
"The sale merely involves the power plant component of the Angat Dam," Mr. Ledesma reiterated. "The privatization of the Angat HEPP will not affect the water supply from the Angat reservoir as the Angat Dam remains the property of the Philippine government," he added.
Strategic Communications and Partnership Division |