Urban Conclave 2026 Launches Used Water Marketplace, UCF Portal

The National Urban Conclave 2026 ended in Bhubaneswar on 25 October 2026, and its closing day was given over to new digital platforms, a set of municipal reform suggestions and one international agreement. Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal delivered the closing address, telling delegates that the gathering existed to think through the problems cities will meet in the years ahead.

What the Minister pointed to

Manohar Lal traced the way urban India has grown and named the missions the Centre leans on — AMRUT, the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban and PM SVANidhi — crediting them with wider water and sanitation cover, better waste handling, steadier city transport and a longer reach for small credit. He asked for cheap housing near workplaces and public transport, for construction material to be put back into use instead of dumped, and for old waste heaps to be cleared by scientific means. More than half of the country's legacy waste has already been treated, he noted, so the task now is to keep fresh mounds from forming.

Platforms opened on the second day

A Used Water Marketplace was opened under AMRUT 2.0. Urban local bodies will post how much treated water they hold and how clean it is, letting industries, institutions and private buyers find it and buy it. A UCF Portal was launched as the single digital window for the Urban Challenge Fund, carrying project submission, appraisal, tracking and monitoring for states, union territories, city bodies and executing agencies. An Online Interactive Municipal Finance Data Hub will carry real-time revenue and spending figures of urban local bodies and run discussion forums for the people who handle municipal money.

Street food hubs, a book and two CPWD apps

Work formally began on 18 Street Food Hubs picked under PM SVANidhi, with the first instalment of money released. A children's book, Swachhata Ke Superheroes, was brought out to teach waste segregation to young readers. The CPWD released CPWD Nirman, a web and mobile application that follows its projects from start to finish, and CPWDway, a short-video training platform for government engineers. An internship scheme will let undergraduate engineering and architecture students apply for CPWD placements through AICTE's National Internship Portal. A memorandum of understanding was signed between JICA and CPHEEO on the circular use of treated used water.

What the seven sessions asked for

The session on Model Municipal Law sought mayors with five-year tenures and clearly defined executive powers, firmer devolution of municipal functions, fiscal autonomy and a revision of the Model Municipal Law, 2003. The Right to Walk session wanted pedestrian right-of-way written into statutory plans with dedicated money for footpaths. Other sessions pressed for single-window housing approvals, shared GIS-based planning databases, outcome-based service delivery and simpler building bye-laws. The recommendations will shape the next round of urban reform on the way to Viksit Bharat 2047.