NOT a perfect budget, but the budget creates an opportunity — if Pakistan can convert allocation into execution. The budget has money. Policy needed. The budget has money. Political will needed. The budget has money. Strategy needed.
Islamabad has allocated Rs1 trillion for development; the provinces together have Rs2.5 trillion. Spread across Pakistan’s 169 districts, Rs3.5 trillion comes to about Rs21 billion per district, every year. That’s Rs21,000,000,000 for the year for the development of every Pakistani district.
What can be built with Rs3.5 trillion? Around 9,700 primary and elementary schools at the cost of Rs100 million per school. Around 5,700 basic health units at the cost of Rs150 million per unit. Around 40,500 km of roads at the cost of Rs25 million per km. Around 2,640 water and sanitation schemes at the cost of Rs250 million each. All in just one year.
Remember: The district is where the citizen lives. The district is where the child goes to school. The district is where the patient looks for medicine. The district is where the farmer needs a road. The district is where the household needs clean water. The district is where the young man needs work. And the district is where terrorism takes roots.
Here’s the arithmetic: An average district is about 5,000 sq km with an average of 1.4 million Pakistanis living in it. Rs21 billion per district means Rs15,000 for every man, woman and child in every Pakistani district every year.
What can be built with Rs21 billion in each and every district? 57 primary and elementary schools at the cost of Rs100 million per school. 35 basic health units at the cost of Rs150 million per unit. 236 km of roads at the cost of Rs25 million per km. 16 water and sanitation schemes at the cost of Rs250 million each. All in one year.
Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta have collectively allocated Rs3.5 trillion for “development.” The money is there. It is taxpayers’ money. It is not charity from the government; it is a trust placed in the government. It is not meant to disappear into files, approvals and revised estimates. And if it is spent on what it has been allocated for, it can transform each and every one of Pakistan’s 169 districts.
Yes, we need dams, ports and other mega-projects. Mega-projects build the state. District development builds the citizen. Pakistan needs both. And Pakistan must maintain a fine balance.
Pakistan does not lack development money – Pakistan has broken execution. Each district should have a development compact: one list of projects, one timeline, one cost, one completion date and one public dashboard. Citizens should know how much money came to their district, where it went, who received the contract, what was completed and what outcome was delivered.
No more invisible development. No more ghost schemes. No more political plaques on public money. Tie every rupee to a district. Tie every district to a dashboard. Tie every dashboard to outcomes. Fact: Pakistan does not lack development money. Colder fact: Pakistan lacks development discipline. Rs3.5 trillion can begin to build a new Pakistan.
—The writer is a journalist and
political analyst.
