The Indian Government has approved a proposal to build a six lane highway connecting Chennai and Bangalore which is expected to be completed by March 2012.

The 334 km expressway is estimated to cost Rs60bn ($1.1bn), of which Rs.50bn ($1) will go towards the construction work.

The proposed expressway will be an alternative to National Highway-7 from Bangalore to Krishnagiri, National Highway-46 Krishnagiri to Ranipet and National Highway 4 Ranipet to Chennai.

The expressway will start near Hoskote from Bangalore, spanning 74 km in Karnataka, 90 km in Andhra Pradesh and 94 km in Tamil Nadu and reduce journey time between the two southern cities by 86km, from 344km to 258km.

The project will be carried out on a build operate transfer (BOT) basis under Indian Government’s proposed National Highways Development Project Phase VI plans to build more than 1,000km, of expressways at a cost of Rs 16,6bn ($3.2bn).