Bangladesh to get €85.11 million from IDB for rural, peri-urban housing

FT ONLINE

Bangladesh will receive €85.11 million in loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for rural and peri-urban housing.

Bangladesh signed a loan agreement with Jeddah based lending agency recently.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith and President of IDB Bandar MH Hajjar signed the agreement on the sidelines of the 43rd meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Tunis.

With the financial assistance from IDB, state-owned Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) will provide low-cost home financing to low-income rural people living outside the metropolis of Dhaka and Chittagong.

IDB will lend the money to Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) through the Finance Ministry.

The loan would be disbursed under ‘Pallima Scheme’, a newly launched scheme of the corporation.

The main objectives of the project are to ensure access of the rural and peri-urban people in housing finance and to save the agriculture lands from being eroded for housing purposes.

Under the project, loans would be distributed to construct some 7976 units both in rural areas, and peri-urban areas which will provide support to some 47,856 people.

According to BHBFC officials, loans would be distributed to construct 4,050 units in rural areas, 2,825 units in peri-urban areas and 1,101 units for non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs).

Before signing the agreement, Muhith informed the IDB president that Bangladesh has a dynamic private sector which is actually setting the trend and pace of country’s development.