Ninety percent of the land has been acquired for the 262 km long Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway. The work on the project is expected to commence in 2019.

The tenders for the concessionaire under the hybrid annuity mode (HAM) are likely to be called in a couple of months.

The eight-lane road project runs through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The concessionaire of the project will be given five months to tie up with banks, and construction work is expected to commence by 2019-end, at least in the Karnataka stretch, where tenders are expected by June 2019.

Karnataka has completed the land acquisition process, and public hearings have also been held by the neighbouring state’s pollution control board in the districts of Kolar and Bengaluru Rural.

The detailed project report (DPR) and land acquisition for Tamil Nadu are in final stages. The road runs through Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Vellore districts for a length of 98.32 km.

The road stretch begins at Hosekote (Karnataka) and covers a distance of 75.64 km within the state. The road will end at Sriperumbudur, from where it will be connected with the Chennai Outer Ring Road at Poonamallee via the NH-4 as an elevated road.

The new road project will reduce travel time between the two cities by half from the current six-hour journey.