The Chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Group said on Thursday he hoped industrial ventures in a proposed $2 billion investment plan for Bangladesh would go into operation by end-2008, if not before then. "If everything goes smoothly I believe it will take three to four years for us to go into production in Bangladesh," Ratan N. Tata told reporters after a meeting with State Minister for Energy A.K.M. Mosharraf Hossain.

The Tata Group on Wednesday signed a deal with Bangladesh's state-run Board of Investment (BOI) for the industrial plan — the biggest single investment in the impoverished country. Tata Group plans to build a power plant, steel mill and fertiliser factory in Bangladesh, which Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman said would encourage other foreign investors to come to the country.

"We are satisfied as the energy minister today assured us about smooth availability of natural gas to run the plants over the next 20 to 25 years," Ratan Tata said. Mosharraf said on Thursday "every detail including the quantity and price of gas for the Tata plants would be finalised within four to five months through a feasibility study". In the first phase, Tata Group would require 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, Mosharraf said.

The country has 15.33 trillion cubic feet of proven and recoverable gas reserves, according to energy ministry estimates. The Tata group will also examine whether power can be produced by using coal as fuel, the minister said. Bangladesh has proven reserves of 64 million tonnes of high quality coal at Barapukuria, 450 km (28O miles) North of Dhaka, he noted.