Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday, July 4 said that his ministry is ready to allocate Rs 2 lakh crore to Karnataka within one month for road projects, provided the state government can secure the necessary land.
Speaking at the BJP state executive committee meeting's valedictory in Bengaluru, Gadkari said that there was an urgency of land acquisition and obtaining essential clearances. He recalled recent discussions with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in New Delhi. "I told them that I am ready to give Rs 2 lakh crore to Karnataka in one month for road works. But my condition to them is to get the land acquisition done... get forest and other clearances. In Karnataka, many projects are stuck owing to this. I cannot make roads in the air," Gadkari said.
Gadkari also announced that the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will be completed by December 2024 and will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 'new alignment' Bengaluru-Chennai highway will link Hoskote in Bengaluru to Sriperumbudur in Kanchipuram district, located 40 km from Chennai. This expressway is part of the 36 new expressways being developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), with its foundation stone laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2022.
Spanning 262 km, the Bengaluru-Chennai expressway is being constructed at a cost of over Rs 17,930 crore. The highway will pass through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It will feature eight lanes for 240 km, with the remaining 22 km consisting of an elevated stretch. Approximately 2,650 hectares of land have been acquired for this ambitious project.