Pakistan, Aug. 13 -- Pakistan has never suffered from a shortage of foundation stones. What it has lacked, rather more painfully, is the prosaic second half of government. For lack of a better phrase: our leaders have lacked the will to finish what they start.

Between headline-generating announcements and their execution, our public projects have traditionally travelled through the bureaucratic wilderness of revised costs, extended deadlines and ceremonial reassurances. This is why Mohsin Naqvi's stewardship of Islamabad deserves attention for something more consequential than the concrete now visible across the capital. He has attempted to change the unit by which government is judged: from intention to delivery, and from years to days....