Municipal Administration, Rural Development, Law Courts and Prisons Minister KP Munusamy on Monday tabled the policy note of the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department for 2013-14 in the Assembly on Monday.

The document outlined the vision for the Department in the coming year and also presented the status of projects in 2012-13. In the policy note, the government said it would take up the construction of sewers across the State in a phased manner. These would be built under the Underground Sewerage Scheme (UGSS). It said the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board (TWAD Board) had prepared 636 Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for projects at an estimated cost of `20820 crore. These proposed projects are located in three Corporations, 117 Municipalities and 516 Town Panchayats. Of this, `12150 crore worth of projects are in the 516 Town Panchyats.

The policy note also outlined the Rural Water Supply Programme to be implemented in 2013-14, which aims at covering 6000 rural habitations through the Individual Power Pump Scheme and the Combined Water Supply Scheme. The outlay for this project has been pegged at `1190.72 crore.

The policy note also lined out other priorities such as  construction and maintenance of roads in urban areas,  improvement of ground water resource across the State,  phased conversion of all street lamps into energy-efficient LED lamps, improvement in solid waste management infrastructure and services and a continued thrust to make Tamil Nadu an open defecation-free State by 2015.