Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has reaffirmed his commitment to complete the Chennai-Bengaluru greenfield expressway by December this year, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the shortage of construction materials.
The 262-kilometre-long expressway, which is being developed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana program, aims to reduce the travel time between the two major cities to two hours from the existing six to seven hours. The project was first announced in 2011 and the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2022.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Gadkari said that he had personally monitored the progress of the project and urged the cooperation of the state governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to facilitate the availability of aggregates and fly ash, which are essential for the construction of highways.
“I want to assure the House that we are making every effort to complete the highway before December. The goal is to cover the distance between Chennai and Bengaluru in just two hours,” he said.
He also revealed that he had spoken to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and apprised him of the problems faced by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the state. He expressed his willingness to meet with the state officials and NHAI officers to resolve the issues and expedite the project.
The minister also informed the House that the Kerala government had agreed to bear 25 per cent of the land acquisition costs for the NH-774 greenfield highway connecting Kollam in Kerala to Madurai in Tamil Nadu, a reduction from the earlier 50 per cent commitment. He said that he was awaiting a formal response from the Kerala government on this matter.
The Chennai-Bengaluru expressway is expected to boost the economic and social development of the region, as well as ease the traffic congestion and pollution on the existing NH-48. The expressway will have four lanes, expandable to eight, and will feature several interchanges, flyovers, bridges, culverts, and underpasses. It will also have four spurs connecting it to other important towns and cities.
The project has been divided into four phases and 11 sections, all to be executed in parallel. The first phase, which covers 53.5 kilometres in Karnataka, has been awarded to Dilip Buildcon and GR Infraprojects. The second phase, which covers 93.95 kilometres in Andhra Pradesh, has been awarded to PNC Infratech and APCO Infratech. The third phase, which covers 84.15 kilometres in Tamil Nadu, has been awarded to Ashoka Buildcon and G R Thanga Maligai. The fourth phase, which covers 31.25 kilometres in Tamil Nadu, has been awarded to Sadbhav Engineering and Oriental Structural Engineers.
