government policy focused on building public facilities; pork-barrel construction projects
Often used critically to describe wasteful spending on public buildings (community centers, halls, etc.) rather than on services or maintenance. The term 箱物 (literally 'box thing') refers to the buildings themselves.
The mayor was criticized for spending a large budget on pork-barrel construction projects.
箱物行政を見直し、住民サービスに予算を回すべきだ。
We should review the policy of building public facilities and redirect the budget to resident services.