Tenders for the long-delayed Expressway from Bengaluru to be issued in FebFinally, there is some good news on the much-delayed Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway. The NHAI, which is executing the project hopes to invite tenders for the project in February-March. The forest clearance is expected to be cleared by March and the works (subject to awarding of tender) could begin sometime in September-October next year. Once completed, the travel time between the two cities will come down from the current six hours to four hours.A senior NHAI official told Bangalore Mirror that the land acquisition was in advanced stage and compensation was being awarded. Currently, offices of NHAI from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are looking into the projects in their respective territories and the land acquisition is in final stages. The package will be divided into three phases and the first phase of work will be between Hosakote and Bethamangala.Meanwhile, answering a query in the Lok Sabha, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Detailed Project Report (DPR)/ feasibility study for Bengaluru-Chennai.Greenfield Expressway Project had been initiated along with land acquisition and other pre-construction activities. “The aggregate land acquisition for approximately 2,650 hectares of land has been initiated for the project. The notification under section 3A of NH Act has been published for entire land. Out of this, notification under section 3D of NH Act has been published for 2,590 Hectares land and award under section 3G of NH Act has been declared for approximately 2,350 Hectares land. The tentative civil cost of the project is Rs 17,930 crores. An amount of approximately Rs. 1,370 crores have been spent towards pre-construction activities including land acquisition and DPR consultancy services,” he responded.This will be the first Greenfield Expressway in South India cutting across Hosakote, Malur (Karnataka), V Kota, Palamaner (Andhra Pradesh), Gudiyatam, Arakkonam and Sri Perambadur (Tamil Nadu). Incidentally, this will be the shortest distance between Bangalore and Chennai with distance reduced to 250 km (Greenfield Area) from Hosakote to Sriperumbudur.The officer said initially they planned to reduce the distance further; however, it was not possible as the road was to pass through Eastern Ghats. The officials feared it may not get the required clearance from the Ministry of Environment, so the road is now to bypass the Eastern Ghats. The project is set to have world-class highway with roads designed to cater to the speed of 120 km per hour. The road embankment will be three to six metres above the ground to avoid distractions.NHAI estimates that it may have to spend Rs 15 crore to Rs 16 crore to build a kilometre of the road. The toll in this road will be higher than the toll paid on the other NHAI roads. “As it is an access-controlled expressway, the toll will be higher though we have not finalised the toll rates”, said the officer. Meanwhile, NHAI officials are planning to have an alternative road from Bangalore City Centre to Expressway which begins at Hosakote.“Right now, the Bangalore-Mulbagal Road’s toll gate is located near Hosakote and Bangalore-Chennai Expressway begins at this point. Users may not like to pay at two toll gates simultaneously. So, we are considering connecting the expressway to NH 207 (between Hosur to Dobbspet). It is still in the initial days and needs to be finalised,” added the official.Incidentally, the new Expressway will be the shortest distance between Bangalore and Chennai. The traffic volume between two cities is huge. More than 9,500 PCUs travel from Bangalore to Chennai on the existing roads every hour. The widely used road is via Hosur/Krishnagiri. As this road is four-laned, it is excessively used between the two cities.