Oct. 1--STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) said that investors remain upbeat about the government's power privatization program as shown by the interest drawn by three generating plants it has lined up for bidding.

In a statement, Psalm said that 15 groups have pre-qualified for the upcoming privatization of the 0.8-megawatt Amlan hydroelectric facility, 108-megawatt Aplaya and 22.3-megawatt General Santos diesel power plant package and the 146.5-megawatt Panay and 22-megawatt Bohol diesel power complex.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, Psalm is mandated to privatize government's power plants to pay off state-owned National Power Corp.'s (Napocor) debts, which stood at $7.01 billion at end-2007.

The privatization of at least 70 percent of Napocor's generating and contracted capacities will also kick off an open access environment whereby end-users may choose their own power suppliers.

Psalm said the three investor groups seeking to participate in the second round of bidding for the Amlan power facility attended the pre-bid conference held yesterday.

All seven interested parties in the sale of the decommissioned Aplaya and General Santos diesel power plant package were present in the pre-bid conference that Psalm conducted Friday last week.

The pre-bid conference for the resale of the generating Panay and Bohol diesel power complex held last Thursday was attended by all five investor groups, Psalm said.

Psalm said that the pre-bid conferences were held to brief the investors on the details of the bidding procedures and issues regarding the power plants' sale process.

The decommissioned Aplaya-General Santos and the generating Panay-Bohol and Amlan power facilities are the last assets in Psalm's auction list this year.

Psalm will bid out the Panay-Bohol power plant package on November 12 and the Aplaya-General Santos complex on November 14. The bid date for the Amlan hydropower facility is set on December 10.

Napocor's new president, Froilan Tampinco, formerly a vice president at Psalm, will assume office on Thursday.

Prior to joining Psalm, Tampinco was Napocor vice president for sales and services for a year starting February 2003.

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