The project is composed of the following phases: • Phase I: The
Golden Quadrilateral (GQ; 5,846 km) connecting the four major cities of
Delhi,
Mumbai,
Chennai and
Kolkata. This project, connecting four metro cities, is . Total cost of the project is Rs.300 billion (US$6.8 billion), funded largely by the government’s special petroleum product tax revenues and government borrowing. In January 2012, India announced the four-lane GQ highway network as complete. • Phase II: North-South and East-West corridors comprising national highways connecting four extreme points of the country. The
North–South and East–West Corridor (NS-EW; 7,142 km) connecting
Srinagar in the north to
Kanyakumari in the south, including spur from
Salem to
Kanyakumari (Via
Coimbatore and
Kochi) and
Silchar in the east to
Porbandar in the west. Total length of the network is . As of 31 October 2016, 90.99% of the project had been completed, 5.47% of the project work is under Implementation and 3.52% of the total length is left. It also includes Port connectivity and other projects — . The final completion date to 28 February 2009 at a cost of Rs.350 billion (US$8 billion), with funding similar to Phase I. • Phase III: The government on 12 April 2007 approved NHDP-III to upgrade of national highways on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, which takes into account high-density traffic, connectivity of state capitals via NHDP Phase I and II, and connectivity to centres of economic importance. • Phase IV: The government on 18 June 2008 approved widening of highway that were not part of Phase I, II, or III. Phase IV will convert existing single-lane highways into two lanes with paved shoulders. • Phase V: As road traffic increases over time, a number of four-lane highways will need to be upgraded/expanded to six lanes. On 5 October 2006 the government approved for upgrade of about of four-lane roads. • Phase VI: The government is working on constructing
expressways that would connect major commercial and industrial townships. It has already identified of Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Mumbai section that would connect to the existing Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Ahmedabad section. The
World Bank is studying this project. The project will be funded on BOT basis. The Expressway between
Chennai—
Bangalore and Expressway between
Kolkata—
Dhanbad has been identified and feasibility study and DPR contract has been awarded by NHAI. • Phase VII: This phase calls for improvements to city road networks by adding ring roads to enable easier connectivity with national highways to important cities. In addition, improvements will be made to stretches of national highways that require additional flyovers and bypasses given population and housing growth along the highways and increasing traffic. The government has planned to invest Rs. 16,680 Cr for this phase. The long
Chennai Port—
Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway is being executed under this phase. Note: 1 crore= 10 million ==Status from NHAI website ==