The Philippines was finally able to sell a decommissioned power plant in Bataan after it failed to do so in three attempts over the last four years. The decommissioned 225- megawatt Bataan Thermal Power Plant was sold to Rubenori Inc., a local scrap metals trading company, through a negotiated sale, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (Psalm) said on Friday. Rubenori, which has a partnership with Japan's Sato & Co. Ltd., was chosen as the winning bidder last April 16 after its $2.859 million bid met the reserve price set by the Psalm board. Rubenori acquires scrap materials, especially from non-operational power plants, sugar and paper mills, mining, and other industrial machineries. Its partner, Sato and Co. Ltd., has nearly 50 years experience in recovering and recycling iron and non-ferrous metals. The sale of the Limay, Bataan facility covers the structure, plant equipment, auxiliaries, and accessories, but not the underlying land. Psalm will formally issue a notice of award to Rubenori after it verifies the accuracy, authenticity and completeness of bid documents submitted by the company. In April 2005, the auction for the facility failed because only one bidder showed up. The same auction held in September the same year also met the same fate for the same reason. During the third auction held in February, the only bidder failed to meet the reserve price, prompting Psalm to conduct negotiations for the facility's sale. The Bataan Thermal Power Plan is the third such power plant sold after the government bid out the 200 mW Manila Thermal Plant last year and the 54 mW Cebu II in January. Other government-owned power assets set for the auction block this year include the 104 mW Aplaya Power Plant, the 22.3 mW General Santos Diesel Power Plant, and the 850 mW Sucat Thermal Power Plant.
