Pakistan has outgrown its administrative architecture. A country of more than 241 million people continues to govern itself through just four provincial governments – a structure inherited from a very different Pakistan. Punjab alone now has a population of nearly 128 million, larger than most countries, yet it remains a single administrative unit. This is no longer merely a constitutional debate. It is an economic one.

For decades, the debate over new provinces has been trapped in the politics of language, ethnicity and identity, which has distracted from the question that actually matters: can Pakistan improve governance, attract investment, expand its tax base and deliver public services efficiently through only four provincial governments? The answer increasingly appears to be no.

The case for more provinces should be made the way investors evaluate a business – through efficiency, accountability and returns on public investment – rather than on emotional or political grounds. Creating more provinces is not about dividing Pakistan; it is about creating more centres capable of planning, taxing, investing and delivering. It is economic restructuring of the federation, not political fracture of the country.

For decades, the debate over new provinces has been trapped in the politics of language, ethnicity and identity, which has distracted from the question that actually matters.

For decades, the debate over new provinces has been trapped in the politics of language, ethnicity and identity, which has distracted from the question that actually matters.

Large provincial governments were expected to benefit from economies of scale. Instead, many suffer from diseconomies of distance. A finance secretary in Lahore or Karachi cannot realistically supervise development spending in districts hundreds of kilometres away with the rigour applied to projects closer to the capital. Resources gravitate towards administrative centres while peripheral........

© Daily Times