Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, announced that the Bengaluru-Chennai express highway is expected to be inaugurated by the end of this year or in January 2024. This development will significantly cut down travel time between the two metropolitan cities to just two hours. Additionally, with extensive infrastructure projects underway across the country, Chennai will soon be connected to Delhi through an access-controlled highway project.

During the 75th anniversary celebrations of Ashok Leyland, where Gadkari also launched India's first electric commercial vehicles in its category, he emphasised the growing demand for electric buses in the country. Gadkari highlighted the construction of high-quality roads and the plan to connect Delhi to Chennai via Surat, Nasik, Ahmednagar, Kurnool, Chennai, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad through access-controlled highways.

He revealed that his ministry is working on an electric cable highway between Delhi and Jaipur, urging manufacturers like Ashok Leyland to produce vehicles that use biofuels or alternative energy sources such as electric vehicles. The minister is committed to diversifying agriculture into the energy and power sector and aims to produce methanol trucks in India.

Gadkari also mentioned that the Indian Oil Corporation is producing bioethanol-based fuel for automobiles and ethanol aviation fuel, and he anticipates Tamil Nadu farmers will soon produce ethanol fuel from food grains.

In terms of national highway projects, Gadkari expressed satisfaction with their progress and revealed that work on the Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway project would commence soon. The newly launched Switch IeV series electric vehicles by Ashok Leyland aim to provide efficient and eco-friendly solutions for transportation needs, particularly benefiting MSMEs, cottage industries, and e-commerce in India.