Asfandyar Farrukh

Pakistan Doesn't Need More Provincial Governments. It Needs Governance That Delivers. PRIME estimates that creating two additional provinces could cost Rs47–57 billion annually, while 30 provinces could cost up to Rs730 billion every year. More governors, chief ministers, assemblies, ministers, bureaucracies and privileges — but where is the evidence of better public services? And these are only the additional administrative costs. Disputes over resource distribution, political resistance and growing polarisation could impose far greater economic and social costs. Pakistan's fundamental problem is not simply the size of its provinces. It is bloated governments at every level, weak institutional capacity, ineffective leadership and failures of governance and service delivery. Why multiply expensive layers of government when the Constitution already provides a framework for decentralisation? Instead, empower elected local governments with genuine political, administrative and financial authority, as envisaged under Article 140A. Pakistan needs lean, capable, accountable and technology-enabled governments at every level — federal, provincial and local — not more layers of bureaucracy and political patronage that multiply costs, fragment governance, deepen political divisions and ultimately undermine national cohesion.