The Tamil Nadu government has cancelled a tender awarded during the previous DMK regime to prepare a detailed project report for a proposed 74-acre campus of the Tamil Nadu Institute of Urban Studies (TNIUS) near Mamallapuram, citing administrative reasons, according to a report by DT Next. A fresh tender is expected to be issued for a revised plan.
The cancellation follows the reported decision of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government to review tenders finalised during the last six months of the previous regime. The cancelled tender was intended to appoint an agency to prepare the DPR for the proposed campus, which was planned as an expansion of the institute’s existing facilities.
The proposed campus was to include training facilities, accommodation and research centres. Its stated purpose was to strengthen TNIUS’s capacity to train officials responsible for managing urban local bodies across Tamil Nadu. The institute currently operates from Coimbatore.
TNIUS provides training to municipal corporation commissioners, municipal commissioners, town panchayat executive officers and town planning officials. Its areas of work include urban planning, geographic information systems, solid waste management, safe street design and disaster management. These functions are directly linked to the delivery and management of services in Tamil Nadu’s cities and towns.
The previous government had proposed shifting the institute to a larger campus near Chennai. Funding for the project was reportedly earmarked through the 15th Finance Commission, although the report does not specify the amount allocated or the status of any fund release. The cancellation of the DPR tender means the project will require a fresh procurement process before its design and implementation stages can proceed.
Municipal administration sources cited by DT Next said the fresh tender would be floated to prepare a revised DPR. The revised plan is expected to incorporate improved facilities and green-building features. No revised tender date, project cost, construction timeline or final campus design has been announced in the supplied report.
The proposed campus is intended to serve as more than an administrative training facility. Its planned research and training functions would support officials working on planning, waste management, digital mapping, street design and disaster management across different types of urban local bodies. For now, however, the immediate confirmed development is the cancellation of the earlier DPR tender and the reported plan to restart the process with updated requirements.
