Tata Group's Bangladesh partner Nitol-Niloy has taken steps to set up a 1,000-megawatt coal-based power plant in a joint venture with the Indian conglomerate.
Nitol-Niloy will conduct a feasibility study on establishing the largest-ever power plant in Bangladesh.
“We will place the study report to Tata management," said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, chairman of Nitol-Niloy Group.
Ahmad said he also talked to Syamal Gupta, adviser to Chairman of Tata Group Ratan Tata, about the matter. Gupta recently came to Bangladesh with a business delegation.
The Nitol-Niloy chairman said Tata has a huge coal reserve in its Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar coalmines and Tata will use that coal for the power plant in Bangladesh.
The Indian industrial giant had earlier come up with a $3 billion investment proposal but it scrapped the plan in July 2008 mainly because of long delays by the government.
Tata had plan to build a power plant, steel mill and fertiliser factory in the country, and continued negotiations with the government and other stakeholders for over two years.
Ahmad said there is a huge potential for coal-based power plant in Bangladesh. “People are waiting here with billions of dollars for investment but they can't do it because of power crisis.”
The government should offer good price for power, he said, adding: “If you don't offer a viable price for power, you can't expect credible investors in this sector."
Nitol-Niloy Group has business in transport, aviation, financial institutions, manufacturing, and real state, with an annual turnover of Tk 500 crore.
A concern of the group, Nitol Motors is the sole distributor of Tata vehicles in Bangladesh, and also assembles Tata automobiles here.
Sushil Singhal, first secretary (Economic and Commercial) of Indian High Commission in Dhaka, said the investment initiative and talks are going on at private level.
He said the Indian government will provide all-out support for negotiations with the Indian businessmen to solve Bangladesh's power crisis.
Bangladesh is now reeling with a power deficit of around 1,500MW to 2,000MW as it can supply only 3,500MW to 4,000MW against the demand for 5,000MW to 5,500MW a day.
Tata generates around 3,000MW in India.
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