WB injects $250-mn in TN's affordable housing sector

The World Bank has signed agreements worth $250 million to promote private sector role in developing affordable housing in Tamil Nadu. The agreement was signed between the World Bank, the Indian Central government and the Tamil Nadu state government. Of the funds to be provided through the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, $200 million will go to the First Tamil Nadu Housing Sector Strengthening Program as the first of two operations. The first operation is to support the government's efforts to increase the availability of affordable housing by gradually shifting the role of the state from being the main provider to an enabler. Bank's Senior Urban Economist Yoonhee Kim informed that the second operation will try to make the affordable housing sector more efficient and inclusive in the state which is the most urbanized in India and the global experience shows that the public sector alone cannot address the growing housing demands, especially as the countries undergo rapid urbanization. Almost half the state's population is urban and the percentage is expected to rise to 63% by 2030 and it is estimated that 16.6% of the state's urban population lives in slums.