The Agartala Light House Project has allotted permanent homes to 278 lower-income families who had lived for eight years in a slum along the Haora river, marking a major handover under Tripura’s affordable housing programme. The beneficiaries received flats in Blocks A and F of the project, located near the India-Bangladesh border.
The homes are being delivered through a project aligned with the Centre’s Global Housing Technology Challenge-India, or GHTC-India, which promotes modern, sustainable, affordable and disaster-resistant construction methods. Tripura chief minister Manik Saha handed over the keys and said safe, permanent housing for economically weaker sections and low-income families remained a fundamental commitment of the state government.
According to the project details reported by the Times of India, each flat has a carpet area of about 30 square metres, or approximately 320 square feet. The wider project envisages around 1,000 flats across seven multi-storey blocks, with a total estimated cost of Rs 162.50 crore.
The Agartala project uses Light Gauge Steel Framed technology along with a pre-engineered steel structural system. The construction approach relies on factory-made steel components and modern materials. It is intended to support faster construction while improving structural strength, durability and resource efficiency.
Agartala is one of six sites selected for Light House Projects under the GHTC-India programme. The other designated locations are Ranchi, Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot and Chennai. These projects are intended to function as testing grounds for newer construction technologies and demonstrate their possible use in affordable housing.
The project’s construction, however, faced administrative and financial challenges. Piling work created unforeseen technical problems that had not been adequately addressed in the initial detailed project report, leading to further delays and complications. The handover therefore comes after a prolonged implementation period for families who had been living along the Haora river.
The planned residential neighbourhood includes facilities such as a community centre, Anganwadi, healthcare centre, water supply and other civic amenities. The project infrastructure is also expected to include solar lighting and rainwater harvesting systems.
The remaining work will determine how quickly the broader project can deliver the approximately 1,000 planned homes and associated facilities. The handover of the first 278 flats is the latest implementation milestone under Agartala’s Light House Project.
