The ubiquitous growth of new highways all over the world is perceived as a symbol of economic success. The overarching policy belief that new roads inherently promote economic growth and productivity heavily relies on quantitative tools while ignoring the contextual details of roading projects. Similar inchoate trends can be witnessed in Pakistan as well. Pakistan's Budget 2026-27, for instance, proposes huge allocation for highways, motorways and other connectivity projects in the name of economic growth and development. The National Highway Authority, per media reports, secured the single largest allocation at Rs264 billion under the development program. Other major allocations reportedly accommodate the government's coalition partners and the ruling party's lawmakers at Rs87 billion and Rs70 billion respectively.

In this perspective, the rudimentary question is how arguments for economic growth are perceived and advanced to promote road investments in Pakistan? The Politics of Road Expansion, a book by this writer recently published by Routledge, argues that traditional tools used to measure the economic benefits of roads have limitations in incorporating the effects of economic, social, environmental and social externalities. These inane tools, such as benefit-cost ratio (BCR) and other similar metrics, have the tendency to ignore the contextual challenges involved in the advancement of new road projects. Based on six case studies from New Zealand, Britain, the US, Pakistan, Brazil and Kenya, the book also observes that the politicians and governments have their own political, economic, technological and aesthetic motives to initiate big road projects. Plagued by avarice, these motives may........

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