InfraCo Asia Signs Agreement for Durgapur Affordable Housing Project

InfraCo Asia Development Pte. Ltd. (InfraCo Asia), part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), today announced the signing of a Joint Investment and Development Agreement (JIDA) for the development of more than 1,300 affordable housing units for lower-income residents of Durgapur, a Tier 2 Indian city in the West Bengal State. The project will be implemented by Equicap Asia, InfraCo Asia’s contracted Developer Team for South Asia, and its local partner, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd. (BAPL).

The Durgapur Affordable Housing Project marks InfraCo Asia’s first investment in affordable housing. With this project, InfraCo Asia aims to catalyse further investment in affordable housing development in the smaller cities of India, which have lagged behind metropolitan cities, like Delhi and Mumbai, in offering quality housing at affordable prices. The project is closely aligned with the policy priorities of the Government of West Bengal and the Government of India, both of which are providing housing subsidies targeted at lower income households.

As the supply hub for India’s north-eastern region and host to an expanding services industry, Durgapur is on a sustainable path for growth, with quality employment, transport, education, and medical facilities planned or already in place. The Durgapur Affordable Housing project is expected to be one of the first Grade A organised residential development projects targeted toward the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Lower Income Group (LIG) in the region, and will provide more than 6,000 people with better housing at affordable prices, with proximity to services and job opportunities in Durgapur.

InfraCo Asia CEO Allard Nooy said, “The Durgapur Affordable Housing project will be InfraCo Asia’s first foray into the affordable housing sector. We are excited to apply our development expertise and capital to de-risking a project that will both provide lower-income families with access to better-quality apartments and spur future housing development in a growing area. Through our involvement, InfraCo Asia will endeavour to secure more private-sector investment in the project, and provide the expertise needed to successfully de-risk the project.”

Beyond the direct employment provided through the building and operation of the housing project, a wider economic impact is expected: industrial and commercial services serving the residential area will develop, creating additional permanent jobs for people in the lower income groups. Additionally, protections for women in the families benefitted by the project will be in place: The central government subsidies are a part of the Credit Linked Subsidy scheme (CLSS) of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which requires houses to be in the name of, or jointly in the name of, the woman of the household.