The Ministry of Communications was deemed the best performing ministry this year and was awarded a certificate of excellent performance by the Prime Minister in February. While the Ministry of Communications has certainly undertaken many good initiatives in the last few years, including increasing connectivity and IT infrastructure on motorways and far-flung areas, one perpetually ignored department under the Ministry of Communications, neglected by successive governments throughout the years, is the Pakistan Post.

So overlooked is this state enterprise that it has been unable to clear more than Rs40 billion in utility bills it has accumulated on behalf of electricity distribution companies (Discos), including K-Electric, and other public service agencies.

The importance of an institution like the Pakistan Post cannot be overstated. An effective postal system is necessary for a country where a big chunk of the area consists of inhospitable terrain. While in the past few years, the Pakistan Post has been overshadowed by private companies like TCS, private competitors remain absent in far-flung isolated areas, whereas almost 67 percent of Pakistan Post’s offices are located in rural areas.

Moreover, Pakistan Post, unlike other private competitors, is not engaged simply in the business of post—the Pakistan Post offices perform about seven different functions ranging from a savings bank, postal life insurance, collecting utility bills, receiving international remittances, selling savings certificates, and working on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and the federal and provincial governments.

Pakistan Post officials state that there has been progress under the current Ministry of Communications, with the organisation expanding rapidly with plans to open over 100,000 franchises. However, it should be noted that the Pakistan Post was always much larger than its private competitors, with around 13,000 post offices throughout Pakistan in 2019, compared to its largest private-sector competitor, TCS, which had only 900.

It appears that the size of the institution is not the problem—it is the amount of red tape that has caused the Post to go into deficit for several years. Before seeking expansion, the government must divert attention to this integral part of government service and ensure its smooth running. These electric bills need to be sorted out, and it would be worth introspecting how to eliminate such a bureaucratic backlog.