Restoring the Cooum River
Chennai Blue Vision Foundation is a Saudi-based independent charitable organisation. It is not a government agency. Its campaign, Chennai Blue Vision 2030, proposes restoring the Cooum from Kesavaram to the Bay of Bengal.
72 kmSource to sea, Kesavaram to the Bay of Bengal
32 kmFlows through the heart of Chennai city
3 riversCooum, Adyar & Kosasthalaiyar frame Chennai
Section summary: Chennai Blue Vision Foundation is an independent Saudi-based charity. Chennai Blue Vision 2030 restores the Cooum by cleaning water, greening banks, and opening the river to the city. Expected benefits include less pollution, mosquito control, recreation, tourism, and economic upliftment.
What we're working towardThree things have to happen at once
A river doesn't come back to life one fix at a time. Chennai Blue Vision 2030 treats the water, the banks and the city's relationship to the river as one project.
KM 0–72 · WATER
Clean the water
Divert sewage inlets, desilt the riverbed and stop solid waste at the source, so the Cooum runs like a river again instead of a drain.
KM 24–54 · BANKS
Green the banks
Replace dumped debris and bare embankments with planted buffers, walking paths and shade — a corridor the city can actually stand next to.
KM 0–32 · CITY
Open it to the city
Turn the reclaimed banks into public space — promenades, boat access and neighbourhood squares that put the river back into daily life.
Zero cost. Maximum benefit.
A river restoration the city doesn't have to pay for alone
The Cooum has been the subject of restoration plans for decades — most have stalled on funding. Chennai Blue Vision 2030 is built around a simple idea: let the value the restored river creates — in land, tourism and public health — help pay for the work, instead of asking the city to fund it from scratch.
That means public-private partnership on riverfront development, revenue-sharing with the businesses and tourism the clean-up enables, and a phased build-out that proves itself stretch by stretch rather than asking for everything up front.
Read the full plan
The vision, in pictures
What 32 km of restored river could look like
Before / AfterThe full transformation, side by side
ConceptA quieter stretch, tree canopy intact
Government referenceTamil Nadu's Cooum River Revival Project
The Tamil Nadu government poster above is their own campaign material, shown for reference — Chennai Blue Vision Foundation is an independent community campaign, not a government body.