India, ADB Sign $150 Million Loan Agreement To Provide Affordable Housing For Urban Poor In Tamil Nadu

India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday (7 December) signed a $150 million loan to provide access to inclusive, resilient, and sustainable housing for the urban poor in Tamil Nadu.

The signatories to the loan agreement for Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable Housing for Urban Poor Sector Project in Tamil Nadu were Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission.

After signing the loan agreement, Mishra said that the project is aligned with the Government of India’s development priorities and policies on urban sector development, particularly the flagship program PMAY-Housing for All (Urban), and will address housing shortage among poor urban dwellers in Tamil Nadu with provision of housing to eligible families, according to a Finance Ministry release.

“Rapid urbanization and growth in Tamil Nadu has created a housing shortfall particularly for low-income households,” said Konishi.

“The project will provide access to affordable housing infrastructure and services to vulnerable and disadvantaged households and catalyze private sector investment in affordable housing”, he added.

Nearly half of Tamil Nadu’s 72 million population lives in urban areas making it one of the most urbanized states in India, the Finance Ministry said.

Through the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board, the project will construct housing units in nine different locations and relocate about 6,000 households vulnerable to natural hazards to safer locations.

The project will also help Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Town and Country Planning develop regional plans to map the state’s economic and infrastructure development including affordable housing, environmental protection, disaster risk management, and gender.

A portion of ADB’s assistance will be invested by the state government as equity into the Tamil Nadu Shelter Fund to catalyze private sector financing and support investments mainly in industrial housing and working women’s hostels for low-income and migrant workers, the ministry said.

In addition, ADB will provide a $1.5 million technical assistance (TA) grant from its Technical Assistance Special Fund to support the capacity building of government agencies responsible for delivering affordable housing and regional planning in Tamil Nadu.

The TA will document successful approaches to affordable housing delivery, including the graduation programme for vulnerable relocated beneficiaries, that can be adopted in other cities and countries, the ministry added.