DHAKA, 18 February 2007 — India’s powerful Tata Group said yesterday it wants to restart talks with Bangladesh’s government on a $3 billion plan to build a slew of industrial projects in the impoverished nation.
The group suspended its proposal to construct a power plant, steel mill and fertilizer factory as well as to develop coal mining last July after the previous government halted talks until after national elections. The polls, originally set for January, have since been postponed amid charges of vote-rigging and widespread political unrest. No new date has been set.
“I met the Foreign Ministry adviser early this week and discussed how we could take the proposals forward,” Tata’s Bangladesh representative Syed Manzer Hossain told AFP. “Our proposals remain the same and we’re waiting for a response from the government to take it forward and restart negotiations,” added the official, who also met with the adviser in charge of the energy ministry this month. The plan by Tata, one of India’s top industrial houses, would be the biggest single foreign investment in the South Asian nation.
Bangladesh has been under emergency rule since early January after the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party government and the opposition Awami League failed to reach agreement on staging credible polls.
The new military-backed caretaker government has said it will take up all necessary projects to promote long-term economic growth.
