THE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is set to bid out the operation and maintenance  (O&M) service contract of the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya thermal power plant in Pililia, Rizal, next month.

In an invitation to bid, PSALM said it has budgeted P716.8 million for the O&M service contract of the Malaya power plant, and stressed that bids received in excess of the approved budget shall be rejected at bid opening.

PSALM said it scheduled a prebid conference on August 19 opening of bids has been set on September 2.

Conrad Tolentiano, PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading, told the BusinessMirror that the O&M service contract is targeted to keep the Malaya running while it remains unsold.

However, Tolentino said the sale of the power plant still awaits the go-signal from the Department of Energy. The 650-MW Malaya is operated by Kepco under a build, operate, and transfer agreement with the government through the National Power Corp. To date, Psalm has privatized 68.7 percent of the total contracted capacities of the Luzon and the Visayas grids to independent power producer administrators.

PSALM generated $3.467 billion from the sale of the generating assets and $3.23 billion from the IPP contracts. PSALM is yet to bid out the contracted capacities of 728-MW Caliraya-Botokan-Kalayaan hydro plants, 100-MW Western Mindanao Power Corp., 50-MW Southern Philippines Power Corp., 200-MW Mindanao Coal plant, 92.52-MW Mt. Apo 1 and 2 geothermal project and 165-MW Casecnan hydropower plant.

PSALM has also successfully bid out 91.73 percent of the generating assets in the Luzon and the Visayas grids. The only assets yet to be privatized include the 850-MW Sucat thermal plant and 630-MW Malaya thermal plant.