Tatas may revive Bangladesh investment talks

Our Corporate Bureau
16 February 2007

Mumbai: The Tata Group, which had to suspend its investment plans in neighbouring Bangladesh last year under unfavourable investment environment, is mulling resumption of talks with the current caretaker government about its $3 billion investment plan in the country.

The Tata Group is now exploring possibility to resume talks with the current caretaker government, the group's resident director in Dhaka, S Manzer Husain, was quoted as saying.

"We are exploring the possibility of seeing if we can start off again from where we left last time and come to a good conclusion," Husain told private news agency UNB after a meeting with foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

The group's investment proposals include setting up a 2.4 million tonne steel plant, a fertiliser plant, a 475 MW gas-fired power plant and development of Barapukuria coal mine through open-cast methodology.

The Tata project proposal is perhaps the biggest Bangladesh has ever received. After two years' negotiations, the then Khaleda Zia government told the Tata Group that the projects were 'politically sensitive' and was best left to be decided after the general elections. The project has remained suspended ever since.

The ninth general election, however, was cancelled last month after weeks of turmoil and the country is now under a national emergency. It is not clear when the polls would be held.