Karnataka leg of Bengaluru-Chennai e-way will be fully ready by December: Gadkari

Bengaluru: The Karnataka stretch of the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway (National Expressway 7) will be fully completed by December 2025, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told Parliament on Thursday. 

Replying to a written question by Bangalore Central MP PC Mohan, Gadkari said that three Karnataka-only packages had been completed, while a fourth, partly located in the state, would be ready by December 2025. 

The full 262-km expressway — from Hoskote near Bengaluru to Sriperumbudur near Chennai — will be completed by December 2026, he added. 

Gadkari listed several reasons for delays in the project, whose original deadline was 2024. 

a) delay in land acquisition due to slow disbursement, missed-out valuation of trees/affected structures during preparation of awards, public resistance, demand for service road, and access from main carriageway. 

(b) delay in fixing compensation for Right Of Way (ROW) affected the shifting of extra-high-tension lines. 

(c) delay in shifting religious structures. 

Although the Karnataka section was opened since December 2024, toll collection has not yet started. 

Vilas P Brahmankar, Regional Officer, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Bengaluru, said toll collection would begin once all four plazas in Karnataka were integrated into the payment system. 

"Three toll plazas have been integrated and the fourth is underway. We've been liasoning with banks and PCI (Payments Council of India)," he told DH. 

Brahmankar noted that the expressway contracts were awarded under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) and that contractors had to recover their investment. 

"The expressway cannot be kept idle (without toll collection)," he said. 

The toll plazas are located on side roads, not the main carriageway, he added. 

Vehicles using the expressway's Hoskote-Bethamangala section (71.7 km) are expected to pay about Rs 2.5 per kilometre one-way and get discounts via monthly passes. 

Karnataka section

Completed (71.7 km)

Package 1: 27.1 km
Package 2: 27.1 km
Package 3: 17.5 km

Dec 2025: Bethamangala (KGF) to Byreddipalli (AP): 25 km

Dec 2026: Full expressway (Hoskote, Bengaluru, to Sriperumbudur, Chennai): 262 km