CHENNAI: The work on the Tamil Nadu portion of the much-awaited Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway is stalled mainly because of a legal dispute involving a financially stressed contractor. Even as most other stretches of the flagship corridor are either operational or nearing completion, this has emerged as the biggest hurdle delaying completion of the stretch in Tamil Nadu, said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha, Minister Gadkari said construction of the 25.5-km Arakkonam-Kancheepuram package has remained suspended since May 2025 after the concessionaire stopped work citing financial constraints.
Though the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) initiated action to terminate the contract, the Madras High Court directed it to maintain status quo, with the matter now awaiting a verdict. Senior lenders have, meanwhile, initiated the process of replacing the concessionaire.
The minister said 7 of the 10 packages of the 261.7-km access-controlled expressway have been completed or are substantially ready. The Karnataka portion has been largely completed, while Andhra Pradesh has only one package left, which is expected to be completed by October this year.
Apart from the contractor dispute, Gadkari said delays in land acquisition, shifting of electrical utilities, Extra High Tension (EHT) transmission towers, railway power blocks, and relocation of railway switching posts affected progress across all four packages in Tamil Nadu.
Most of these issues have since been resolved, except the shifting of EHT towers belonging to Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (Tantransco), for which line closure approval from the State utility is still awaited.
The adjoining Walajahpet-Arakkonam section is expected to be completed by the end of August, while the Kancheepuram-Sriperumbudur stretch, where work has reached nearly 90%, is targeted for completion by the end of October.
The Centre said the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway is being implemented with 100% central government funding and is expected to significantly reduce travel time and improve freight movement between Bengaluru and Chennai once the remaining bottlenecks are cleared.
261.7-km length of the access-controlled expressway
7 of the 10 packages completed or are substantially ready
Walajahpet-Arakkonam section expected to be completed August end
Kancheepuram-Sriperumbudur stretch will be over by October end
Karnataka portion largely over
Andhra Pradesh has only one package left, expected to be completed by October