Ayala Corp eyeing bid for geothermal power plant
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Cecille YapXFN-Asia
AYALA Corp may bid for the 700-megawatt Tiwi-Makban power plant complex near the capital Manila which the government has set for sale in the first half of the year, the conglomerate's managing director Rufino Luiz Manotok said.
The country's largest conglomerate late last year formed Michigan Power Inc, a special purpose company that will serve as its vehicle for possible investments in the electricity sector.
"We are looking at it," Manotok told XFN-Asia.
He said the conglomerate is still studying whether to participate in the bidding for the geothermal facility.
"We haven't gone to the point of identifying prospective partners," Manotok added.
The Tiwi-Makban power complex, which supplies electricity to the main island of Luzon, is composed of the 275-megawatt (MW) Tiwi power plant in the province of Albay and the 425.73-MW Makban power plant located in the provinces of Laguna and Batangas.
The sale of National Power Corp's electricity generating and transmission assets is part of structural reforms being undertaken by the government to reduce its debt mountain and improve electricity infrastructure in the country.
Napocor's privatization is being closely monitored by foreign creditors and credit-rating agencies.
At 11:01 am, Ayala Corp was steady at 345 pesos on 125,590 shares.
(1 dollar = 51.187 pesos)
Copyright 2006 Xinhua Financial News Service-Asia. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted by philpower @ 9:34 PM,
