Govt urged to continue privatizing power assets

The president of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA) has urged the government to continue privatizing its power assets. In an interview with reporters, PIPPA president Ernesto Pantangco said his organization hopes the government will continue its efforts to privatize the National Power Corporation’s remaining assets. Pantangco said “practically everything’s been taken care of" in terms of the assets and the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) contracts for Luzon. “But for Visayas, we still need to privatize Unified Leyte because currently, despite the influx of the new coal fired capacities, Unified Leyte still accounts for about 54 percent, which is still under government control," Pantangco added. He also said PIPPA wants to see government control of power assets in the Visayas to go below the 30-percent threshold. “At the same time, although we are aware of the various sensitivities in Mindanao, we would still want to push for the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi assets as well as the other IPPA," Pantangco said. No privatized power asset yet Since the Aquino administration took over last year, the government’s privatization arm in the power sector – the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. – has not privatized any power asset. Within the first half of the year, however, PSALM is eyeing to privatize the contracted capacities of the Naga and the Unified Leyte power plants. PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma said “no issues" could hamper the privatization process “although we are mindful that there is a pending bill in the Lower House seeking deferment of privatization of the Unified Leyte contracts." “We will push for ... second quarter but will take direction from the board," he said. Located in Naga, Cebu, the 149-megawatt (MW) Naga power plant complex is composed of the Cebu power plant complex I with an installed capacity of 55 MW, the Cebu power plant complex 2 with capacity of 55 MW, and the Cebu diesel power plant with an installed capacity of 39 MW. On the other hand, the Unified Leyte geothermal plants include the 125-MW Upper Mahiao plant, the 232-MW Malitbog and 180-MW Mahanagdong plants, and the 51-MW optimization plant. - PE/KBK, GMA News