Balochistan is a province of big skies and long horizons. It covers roughly 44 per cent of Pakistan’s land, yet only a small share of the population, often put at around 6 per cent, lives within it. Anyone who has driven its highways knows what that means: hours of mountains and open desert with little else for company. That distance is part of Balochistan’s character and also its great challenge. Every school, clinic and water line has to cross a lot of ground before it reaches the people it is meant for.

That is why the pace of development work across the province deserves attention, and why the news from Dera Bugti is worth more than a passing glance. Under the Balochistan Special Development Initiative, projects worth Rs484.95 million are being carried out in the district, 27 in the first phase and 14 in the second. Thirty-six have already been completed, ahead of schedule. They cover roads, education, health, solarisation and clean drinking water, and the aim is to bring these facilities to people’s doorsteps.

Clean drinking water is the least visible of the five sectors, but the World Health Organisation has long linked unsafe water to........

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