NEW DELHI: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will be opened to the public by the end of this year or early next year. It was earlier announced that the greenfield project, which is being prepared at a cost of Rs 17,000 crore, will be completed by March 2024. The Union Minister was speaking at the 75th-anniversary celebration of Ashok Leyland in Chennai yesterday.

"With the coming of the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, the distance between the two metro cities of the country will be reduced to just two hours. The distance between these cities is 285.3 km. With the coming of the new expressway, more luxury buses and sleeper coaches can be introduced in the region," Nitin Gadkari said.

"We are building good roads. Delhi is being connected to Chennai via Surat, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Kurnool and Chennai routes. Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are also being connected through highway projects. We are satisfied that the National Highway projects are progressing so quickly," the minister added.