Dhaka, August 3:

India’s Tata Group is yet to resolve some key issues like land and gas supplies related to its planned $2.5 billion investment in Bangladesh for setting up steel, power and fertiliser plants.

“We have concluded two rounds of negotiations and are hoping to hold the next round very soon. There are some fundamental issues like land, coal mining and gas supplies which we are hopeful of resolving very soon,” Bangladesh energy advisor Mahmudur Rahman said.

The date for the third round of talks, originally scheduled for July, is yet to be fixed with the new commerce secretary still to take charge, official sources said. “Only after arriving at an agreement on land, gas and coal mining issues will we be moving to the next stage of negotiating on the price,” Rahman said.

The price negotiations will not only include the price of gas and coal supplies but also the power purchase price as the Tatas have proposed supplying half the 1,000-MW power plant capacity to the national power grid while utilising the remaining for a 2.4-million-tonne steel plant.