Made in India-New Roads & Infrastructure in India -2012

India has a road network of over 4,245,429 kilometers in 2012, the third largest road network in the world. Qualitatively India's roads are a mix of modern highways and narrow, unpaved roads, and are undergoing drastic improvement. As of 2008, 49 percent about 2.1 million kilometers -- of Indian roads were paved. The main roads in India are under huge pressure and in great need of modernization in order to handle the increased requirements of the Indian economy. In addition to maintenance, the expansion of the network and widening of existing roads is becoming increasingly important. This would then enable the roads to handle increased traffic, and also allow for a corresponding increase in the average movement speed on India's roads. The rate of new highway construction across India has accelerated in recent years. As of October 2011, the country was adding 11 kilometers of new highways, on average, every day. The expected pace of project initiations and completion suggests that India would add about 600 kilometers of modern highway per month, on average, through 2014. National Highway system of India consists of approximately 6,200 miles of four-lane highways that collect toll from users but do not have control of access and cannot be called expressways. Currently, a massive project is underway to expand the highway network and the Government of India plans to add an additional 11,580 miles of expressways to the network by the year 2022. These roads will be access-controlled roads and will feature between four and six lanes with 2,190 miles km to come up in the next three years. Massive Investment is being done in Transportation sector and infrastructure development in India. These are some of the newly built roads in various Parts of India India plans to spend approximately US$70 Billion by 2013 to modernize its highway network. As of December 2012, India had completed and placed in use over 19,200 kilometers of recently built 4 or 6-lane highways connecting many of its major manufacturing centers, commercial and cultural centers Some of the major projects that are being implemented include the National Highways Development Project, Yamuna Expressway and the KMP Expressway. According to 2009 estimates by Goldman Sachs, India will need to invest US$1.7 trillion on infrastructure projects before 2020 to meet its economic needs, a part of which would be in upgrading India's road network. The government of India is attempting to promote foreign investment in road projects by offering financial incentives. India's recent efforts to build modern highways and improve its road network have made a significant difference in trucking logistics. According to DHL, a global logistics company, the average time to truck shipments from New Delhi to Bengaluru (Bangalore), a 2000+ kilometer journey, had dropped in 2008, to about five days. By 2010, the average time to complete a road trip from New Delhi to Mumbai, a 1400+ kilometer journey, had dropped to about 35 hours. In a 2010 report, KPMG -- one of the world's largest audit and advisory services company -- noted marked improvements in Indian road network and logistics efficiencies in recent years. The report also identified the competitive challenges faced by India. The planned addition of over 12,000 kilometers of expressways in the next 10 years may help address some of such issues. The constraints and issues with Indian road network differ from one state to another. Some states, such as Gujarat, have remarkably better road network than others. In a 2011 report, The Economist called Gujurat the Guangdong of India, and with double digit growth rates, Gujarat continues to outpace growth in other Indian states. Beyond better road networks, The Economist article claims the state government of Gujarat has kept red tape to a minimum, does not ask for bribes, and does not interfere with entrepreneurial corporations. The state, the article claims has less onerous labour laws, reliable electricity and effective bureaucracy.