CHENNAI: The Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) department has formulated the Chief Minister’s Integrated Urban Transformation Mission (CMIUTM) 2026–2031, an urban development initiative aimed at upgrading infrastructure across urban local bodies in the state, an official told TNIE.
Chief Minister C M Joseph Vijay chaired a meeting with MAWS officials on Monday. The mission will cover drinking water, underground sewerage, solid waste management, roads and transport, urban greening, waterbody restoration, social infrastructure, safety and security for women and children, digital governance and public health infrastructure.
Mission entails an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, mobilised through union and state schemes, municipal bonds, state and central finance commission grants, and support from international financial institutions. The chief minister stressed transparency, accountability and effective monitoring in implementation.
Vijay directed officials to ensure uninterrupted 24x7 drinking water supply across all 25 municipal corporations. He also instructed upgrade of water infrastructure in 146 municipalities and 479 town panchayats to provide three hours daily supply five years.
The chief minister instructed that proposals under the centrally sponsored Urban Challenge Fund (UCF) worth Rs 30,000 crore be prepared and implemented without delay. He reviewed state and central schemes for urban local bodies, including the DMK’s flagship Singara Chennai scheme.
The chief minister also directed the MAWS department to prepare an urban infrastructure development plan in coordination with CMDA and DTCP, including climate resilience measures. He asked officials to take up restoration of Cooum and Buckingham canal alongside Adyar River restoration project.
Vijay directed that animal birth control centres be established in all corporations and municipalities by 2031. Smaller facilities would be created for town panchayats, while regional centres serve clusters of nearby municipalities. He stressed the need to eliminate rabies deaths.
Vijay also called for feasibility studies on blue-green corridors, Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) to prevent untreated discharge into waterbodies, biodiversity parks in urban local bodies above one lakh population, planting five crore saplings over five years, sponge parks in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy.