Chennai: Tamil Nadu is exploring the possibility of developing flagship housing projects in collaboration with Singapore firms, Minister for Finance and Human Resource Management Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has said.

Participating in a panel discussion “Partnering with Tamil Nadu for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” organized as part of the NTU Singapore-CII Singapore-India Dialogue on Tuesday, he said there is a cultural and natural connection between Singapore and Tamil Nadu to collaborate in a few areas.

Several firms from the city-state, including GIC and Ascendas (now CapitaLand), have invested in real estate assets and REITs in TN in the past.

“There is ample scope for such asset managers and developers, as well as the Tamil Nadu government, to explore more such possibilities with the technical know-how of Singapore firms. Our housing minister has informed me there are plans to promote a couple of flagship housing projects in Chennai in collaboration with Singapore firms. We could explore more such opportunities to collaborate in the commercial real estate space,” he said.

Stating that he happened to visit Singapore during another trip early this year, he said, “Two prominent Singapore ministers met me, and during the interaction, they invited Chief Minister MK Stalin to lead a delegation to explore more possibilities of cooperation.”

Stating that he himself was not able to do more in this area in the 17-18 months since the government came to power as it was the ‘learning curve’ phase for him.

He added that he was a little disappointed that they “weren’t able to accelerate faster” and he promised to focus more and get things on the ground.

“Fintech is one area we could collaborate more, especially in credit risk management in handling unsecured debts, besides working on a quicker and predictable dispute resolution mechanism,” Thiaga Rajan said.