Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 29 April 2024 –The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh have signed a EUR270.6 million financing agreement to fund the development of rural and peri urban housing in the country.

The signing came on 29th April 2024 in Riyadh - the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - during IsDB Group’s 2024 Annual Meetings and the Bank’s 50^th anniversary Golden Jubilee. 

The agreement was signed by IsDB Vice President Operations, Dr. Mansur Muhtar, and Secretary of Economic Relations Division, Government of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky in the presence of the IsDB Governor and Minister of Finance, Government of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, MP and IsDB President and Group Chairman, H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser.

The project will construct 1,989 sustainable multi-storey housings in rural and peri-urban areas with improved basic facilities of water supply, sanitation, and electricity.

It will facilitate building affordable, eco-friendly, and climate resilient housing.

A total of 70,632 lower and middle-income people will benefit from this project, which will also generate employment for 53,201 people.

Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation will implement the project, ensuring the optimum use of land while saving arable land, while addressing the climate change issue by introducing 55 climate-resilient housing for vulnerable groups due to climate change and 39 eco-friendly housing for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The project will increase digitalization by installing and upgrading electronic submission and processing of home loan applications. It will also strengthen capacity of Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation staff by providing targeted training in Information Technology.

This funding is to go to the 2^nd phase of the successfully completed 1^st phase of the project (completed in October 2022). The 1^st phase of the project saw the building of 1,161 multi-storey buildings (110.99% of target) and benefitted 10,715 (134.34% of target) family units. The number of beneficiaries of the 1^st phase reached 64,290 (134.34% of target).

Muhammad Nassis Sulaiman, Head IsDB Regional Hub in Dhaka, has stated: “IsDB is one of the most trusted development partners in Bangladesh with a long history of delivering effective support in the glorious development journey of the country. This project is a testament to the continuation of IsDB’s strong involvement in sustainable economic development of Bangladesh and the Bank will further strengthen its support in the next phase of the country’s development journey towards an Upper Middle-Income Country.”