14 Oct 2021
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) declared Soosan ENS Co. Ltd. (Soosan ENS) as the lowest bidder during the evaluation of bids held on 12 October 2021 for the procurement of the Operation and Maintenance Service Contract (OMSC) for the Casecnan Hydroelectric Power Plant (CHPP). The next stage is for PSALM to subject the bid of Soosan ENS to the post-qualification process, pursuant to Republic Act No. 9184.
Soosan ENS submitted the lowest bid at PHP252,996,800.00, which is substantially lower than the PHP462,000,000.00 budget that the PSALM Board of Directors approved for the operation and maintenance contract of CHPP.
The other qualified bidders, SN Aboitiz Power-Magat, Inc. and KEPCO KPS Philippines Corporation submitted offers amounting to PHP261,556,168.02 and PHP391,491,723.84, respectively.
The post-qualification process will ensure that Soosan ENS indeed met all the financial and legal requirements as indicated in the bidding procedures of PSALM. If Soosan ENS passes the post-qualification process, it will be given sufficient lead time to familiarize itself with the operations of CHPP before the contract’s beginning effectivity date on 26 November 2021.
“We are optimistic that with the successful public bidding for the Casecnan Plant’s operation and maintenance contract, PSALM can now proceed to prepare for the ultimate plan of privatizing the Casecnan Plant, consistent with the clear mandate in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act,” PSALM President and CEO Irene Besido-Garcia said.
The CHPP is a 165-megawatt combined irrigation and power generation facility located at Sitio Pauan, Brgy. Villarica, Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija on the island of Luzon, about 150 km north of Manila. The CHPP is covered by a build-operate-transfer agreement ending on 11 December 2021. The National Irrigation Administration will own 40%, while PSALM will own 60% of CHPP. However, the National Irrigation Administration has allowed PSALM to handle the procurement of the OMSC and to start the preparation for privatization of CHPP.
The CHPP is a “run-of-river” type of plant with very limited impounding area. The water from the reservoir flows into the plant’s powerhouse, down to the Pantabangan lake and into the irrigation channels. The National Irrigation Administration will continue its mandate of irrigating farmlands despite the privatization of the power component of said facility.
Strategic Communications and Partnership Division |