No gas to spare, Dhaka tells Tata

DHAKA: Bangladesh has told the Tata Group that it does not have gas to spare for the steel and fertiliser plants that form part of its $3 billion investment proposals. Instead, Tata should await the coal policy that is on the anvil.

Allen Roseling, executive director of Tata Sons, responded by saying on Sunday: “If there is no gas, we cannot go ahead with our steel plant.”
The situation would be the same for the fertiliser project that was to be fuelled by the gas, analysts noted, viewing the five-hour talks as a dampener on the biggest foreign investment proposals that Bangladesh has ever received.

The talks, which resumed after two years, produced “no answer”, New Age newspaper said Monday.

The Tatas will review and study the resources situation in Bangladesh before making the final decision on investment, said Roseling.

The government side informed the Tata officials about the country’s depleting energy resources and said it was not possible now to supply 200 million cubic feet of gas daily as asked by the Indian conglomerate for its planned plants.

Times of India