New Delhi: The caretaker government in Bangladesh is examining the Tata Group’s $3 billion investment proposal and is expected to take a decision soon, reported the media on Saturday.
Quoting Investment Board officials, the mass-circulated Bengali daily Prothom Alo said that the revised proposal of the giant business conglomerate will be sent to chief of the caretaker government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, along with evaluation committee's recommendations for the final decision.
"The government will take the final decision on the fate of the investment proposal," Investment Board chairman Nazrul Islam was quoted as saying by Prothom Alo.
The report came two weeks after Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said authorities were "thoroughly examining" the proposal for setting up two power plants, a steel plant, and a fertiliser factory under the single biggest foreign investment in Bangladesh.
Tata Group last month hinted that it might shelve the investment plan if Bangladesh authorities further delayed a decision on the proposal.
As Bangladesh was desperately trying to attract Foreign Direct Investment, major development partners had advised Dhaka to accept the proposal.
The Asian Development Bank had also advocated that Bangladesh should ink the deal to expedite the development process.
Bangladesh officials had in the past held several rounds of negotiations with senior Tata executives on the project while the former Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government of Khaleda Zia had promised to take a decision on the Tata project by June 2006.
But later, the investment proposal was put on hold due to the political turmoil in the country and it was decided that the new government would decide on the matter after the general elections.
The caretaker government under Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has said the task of cleaning up corruption was its top priority but would take up all the necessary projects to promote long-term economic growth.
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