Last week, the federal government approved over a dozen major development projects totaling an impressive Rs1.3 trillion. Among them was the greenlighting of a new federally-funded motorway in Punjab — the Lahore-Sahiwal-Bahawalnagar Motorway. Spanning 295 kilometers, the project will cost national exchequer Rs436 billion.

While new motorways can play a vital role in improving connectivity and boosting regional economies, the absence of similar projects in underdeveloped regions like Balochistan raises important questions about how national resources are being distributed. For a province still waiting for its first motorway, the contrast highlights a broader issue of regional development priorities that merit closer attention.

The new Lahore-Sahiwal-Bahawalnagar motorway must have merits of its own and will benefit the people in South Punjab. However, it begins and ends within Punjab. And yet, it’s being funded by the federal government, despite the fact that the newly signed National Fiscal Pact, pushed by the IMF, explicitly discourages such projects that do not benefit multiple provinces or regions. This violation of the national fiscal pact is not a good way to move forward with the government with the IMF.

Talking about this proposed motorway, Public Policy Analyst Rafiullah Kakar said that this project is a textbook case of how Pakistan’s structure benefits Punjab at the cost of others. “This motorway is being built literally within 100 kilometers of the existing motorway M3 and runs parallel to N5 at a staggering cost of Rs465 billion. This will be financed through a federal loan,” he pointed out. His words speak volumes. This is not just about road-building. It’s about federal priorities,........

© The Friday Times