With the El Niño phenomenon foretelling of a water crisis that may hit the country especially at the peak of summer months, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) is scheduling an investors’ forum Friday to clarify issues compounding the privatization of the 246-megawatt Angat hydropower plant in Bulacan.

“The issues have to be clarified with the investors and the public, so that the buyer of the plant would not be unduly blamed for water supply shortages, especially for domestic drinking water,” one of the prospective bidders said.

It has already been clarified by both PSALM and the National Power Corporation (NPC) that the protocol with respect to water use from the Angat reservoir will give due priority to domestic water use; then irrigation before utilizing the water from the dams for electricity generation.

The Angat dam privatization is the first asset divestment scheduled by PSALM this year. The company is pursuing the exercise despite the fact that it already successfully hurdled, and even went beyond, the 70 percent privatization threshold for the NPC generation assets.

PSALM apprised media of the five prospective bidders which submitted letters of interest. Apart from the traditional bidders in the NPC assets like the SN Aboitiz Power, First Gen and Trans-Asia, the joint venture of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation and Ayala Corporation came in to spice up the competition. The asset-seller has slated April 28 this year for the bid opening.

The Ayala-MPI group will be using Michigan Power Inc. (MPI), an Ayala group subsidiary, as corporate vehicle for the Angat acquisition bid. The equity allocation, they noted, will be firmed up later on as they are also working on engaging a technical partner to comply with the PSALM bid rules.

The Ayala firm, which for several times downplayed reports on its interest in the industry, further indicated that “this initiative is in line with Ayala’s desire to participate in the power sector, especially in the realm of clean and renewable energy.”

Industry watchers though intimated that Ayala’s interest in the Angat facility may have more to do with its business alignment, since its Manila Water Company (MWC) is already a concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) in providing part of the water supply in Metro Manila.

The Ayala group’s participation in the Angat plant divestment manifests a growing keenness of the local corporate giants in the power industry. Pangilinan’s group, of course, has already carved its niche in the sector via its acquisition in Manila Electric Company.

In the past two-and-a-half years, the privatization of the NPC assets appeared as “the only game in town,” hence, it attracted the big-tickets in the local corporate scene, including MPIC and San Miguel Corporation, as well as the Consunji, Razon and Coyiuto groups.