Sources said the issue was discussed at a technical meeting between the Tata officials and the Petrobangla officials and government consultants on coal at the Petrobangla office yesterday.

The Tata officials met the Petrobangla officials as part of their third round negotiation with the government to finalise the Indian giant's proposed $2.5 billion investment plan in Bangladesh.

The Tata officials gave a detailed presentation on the open-pit mining at the meeting. Tata has proposed to use around 3 million tonnes of coal annually from Barapukuria coal mine for its plants.

Earlier, the Prime Minister's Office in principle decided to award a part of Brapukuria coal mine to Tata on build, own and operate (BOO) basis by bending rules.

The government negotiation committee headed by Secretary of the Ministry of Communications Shafiqul Islam has set a detailed schedule to continue the third round talks for the next three weeks.

After yesterday's meeting, officials of both sides said the negotiation is on the right track to sign the final deal by this year. Both sides are optimistic about the signing of the $2.5 billion deal in time.

"The government is very much positive towards the investment deal and it is advancing well," said Shafiqul Islam.

The group will again meet with the Petrobangla officials and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) today to discuss issues relating to gas security, tax exemption and fiscal incentives.

Tata, India's largest private sector group, intends to set up a 1,000 MW power plant, a steel mill with an annual capacity of 420,000 tonnes and a one million-tonne capacity fertiliser factory.