MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on yesterday said she wanted a re-bidding of the country's power grid following four failed attempts to privatize the system.

"I'm leaning towards a re-bidding," Arroyo said when asked about the failure of the latest attempt to privatise the National Transmission Corp. An auction for the 25-year license to run the country's multi-million dollar power grid was declared a failure on February 5 after only one of three potential bidders made a formal offer.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said at the time the government may resort to a negotiated deal to privatize the power grid although he added that another round of bidding still remained an option.

Philippine investment firm Citadel Holdings Inc and Terna SPA of Italy was the only bidder for the license at the auction.

Two other bidders -- a consortium comprising Triratna Holdings Corp, Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Newbridge Asia IV LP and the group Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp and State Grid Corp of China -- failed to come up with offers.

The government had in the past postponed the bidding due to technical and legal issues.

The Philippine government has been trying to privatize TransCo, which has assets worth over $2.7 billion, for the past four years with no success.

It has been estimated that nearly $1.0 billion will need to be spent over the next five years to upgrade, modernize and expand the country's power grid.*AFP

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