In a bid to finalise the $2.5 billion investment proposal by India's Tata Group, Bangladesh may relent to a 20-year guarantee for supply of gas instead of the proposed 15 years.

The government is going to steer a middle course to finalise the deal during the second round negotiations early next month and may provide a 20-year guarantee of uninterrupted gas supply, a shift from its earlier proposal of 15 years' guarantee, the Daily Star newspaper reported Tuesday.

Tata, one of India's largest private sector groups, has asked for a 30-year guarantee of 2 TCF (trillion cubic feet) gas to run its planned fertiliser factory, power and steel plants.

The government negotiators are also contemplating providing Tata with six million tonnes of coal a year and a special fiscal incentive for their investment, the newspaper reported quoting official sources but without naming anyone.

Besides, the two committees formed for negotiating the deal have agreed to allocate 3,000 acres of land required for Tata's projects.

All the necessary policy changes will be finalised before the next round negotiations and the government is likely to sign a final agreement by November this year.

"We have to take a compact position in the second round negotiations likely to be held early next month," a senior government official involved in the negotiations said.

The ministerial committee headed by Industries Minister Motiur Rahman and the negotiation committee headed by Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan will seek Prime Minister Begun Khaleda Zia's clearance for their changed stance.

The second round of negotiations are scheduled to take place here from June 19 but the committees may shift the date to the first week of July to ensure Zia's approval to the sensitive investment deal, sources said.

The Tata Group submitted the $2.5 billion investment proposal in April for setting up a 1,000 MW power station, a steel mill with an annual production capacity of 420,000 tonnes and a one million-tonne capacity fertiliser factory.

The first round negotiations took place May 25-27. The government plans to wind up the talks by August this year to pave the way for signing a final agreement.