& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

$2.5B INVESTMENT PLANS

Tata eyes to wrap up negotiations by Aug

Officially expresses interest to explore coal in the north

Rejaul Karim Byron
India's industrial giant Tata Group is eyeing to wrap up negotiations on its investment plans with Bangladesh government by August 31 and go for groundbreaking of the projects in November this year.
Tata Group made the intentions clear in its feasibility study submitted to the Board of Investment (BoI) Wednesday. BoI sources said two high officials of Tata will arrive in Dhaka tomorrow to negotiate with the government.
In the feasibility study, Tata also proposed coal exploration and mining. Apart from showing interests to set up power and steel plants in Ishwardi and a fertiliser plant in Chittagong, it expressed the willingness to relocate two proposed 500-
megawatt power plants to Dinajpur from Ishwardi, if the government allows it to explore coal in Fulbari and Barapukuria in the north. In that case, the power plants would run on coal instead of gas.
Tata also proposed to export coal to India in the wagons that will bring raw materials for steel plants on their return journey.
The officials -- Alan Roselong, executive director of Tata Holdings, and Sukran Singh, executive assistant to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, will meet the industries minister, the state ministers for power and energy, the prime minister's principal secretary and the BoI executive chairman.
BoI sources said issues like gas pricing, fiscal incentive and
SEE PAGE 15 COL 3 FROM PAGE 1
contractual terms will figure high in the Tata officials' talks with high government officials.
According to the feasibility study, Tata could not specify gas tariff but it wanted an 'reasonable' tariff. However, the BoI advised Tata to negotiate with the government the tariff package of Lafarge Surma Cement.
Tata Group in its feasibility study has showed an interest to up its investment to $2.5 billion from $2 billion pledged earlier.
BDNEWS adds: Tata Group has formally expressed its desire to explore coal in Fulbari and Barapukuria in northern Bangladesh.
Officials said a senior Tata executive will meet with State Minister for Energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain tomorrow to discuss the proposal.
If the talks are positive, they said, the Indian business conglomerate would apply for licence for exploring coal.
The state minister yesterday said Tata expressed the desire to explore coal in Barapukuria and Fulbari. "However, the group is yet to apply for a licence," he added.
The officials said the energy secretary has been directed to take opinions of state-run Petrobangla and the Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) on whether any new licence can be granted for Barapukuria and Fulbari exploration.
Under a lease agreement, Petrobangla's Barapukuria Coal Mining Company is now developing Barapukuria mine on 1,050 hectares of land. Full production from the field is expected to start in July.
Asia Energy Bangladesh, known as AEC, secured licence and lease for Fulbari area. The company is working to develop an "open pit" coal mine although the government is yet to allow it.
Tata also wants to develop 'open pit' coal mines.
Officials said Tata in its proposal expressed its willingness to get licence for the northern part of Barapukuria and areas outside the jurisdiction of Asia Energy in Fulbari. Asia Energy, however, applied for licences in other areas of Fulbari.