The 'Golden Quadrilateral' which connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata passes through Vadodara, Pune, Vishakhapatnam and Varanasi. Four other cities among the top ten metropolises namely Bangalore, Pune, Ahmadabad, and Surat are also connected by the network. The largest highway project in India and the fifth longest in the world, it is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of building 5,846‌km(3,633‌ml) four/six lane express highways at a cost of 600 billion (US$ 11 billion). The project was launched in 2001 by Atal Bihari Vajpayee under the NDA government, and was planned to complete in January, 2012 .