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Japan provides Rs 3.2bn for sewerage, weather forecast
ISLAMABAD: The governments of Japan and Pakistan on Thursday signed agreements of two projects worth Rs 3.2 billion to improve the capacity of sewerage and weather forecasting system in Pakistan.
The agreements were signed between Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Hiroshi Inomata, and Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Secretary Saleem Sethi.
On the same occasion, agreements on details of the implementation of these projects were also signed between Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Chief Representative Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki and EAD Joint Secretary Shaista Sohail.
Under the project for upgradation of mechanical system for sewerage and drainage services in Gujranwala, disposal pumps as well as cleaning/de-silting equipments will be provided to upgrade the existing sewerage and drainage capacity in Gujranwala city.
It will also serve to enhance the number of connections to the sewerage and drainage system and consequently to increase the sewerage coverage rate.
This will ultimately help to improve sanitation and reduce risks of inundation caused by heavy rains. Under the project for establishment of specialised medium range weather forecasting centre and strengthening of weather forecasting system, the existing meteorological radar in the federal capital will be replaced by an upper-air observation system, a meteorological data communication system.
A specialised medium range weather forecasting centre would also be established.
It will enable the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and to disseminate these forecasts and warnings speedily. It is to be noted that this is the first priority of the national multi-hazard early warning system plan for the whole county, which is a part of the “National Disaster Management Plan” approved in February 2013 by the National Disaster Management Commission.
Referring to the repetitive floods Pakistan has faced in recent years, Hiroshi Inomata said that natural disasters have become one of the major obstacles for economic development in the country. He stated that Japan gives high priority to disaster management in its development assistance for Pakistan.
“Both Japan and Pakistan are disaster-prone countries. We will continue to work together to make Pakistan a disaster resilient country by making good use of experience and expertise Japan has gained from disasters in the past,” he added.
He said that the Japanese government had committed in November 2013 that it would provide 1.6 trillion yen ($16 billion) of public and private finance to developing countries over the three years from 2013 to 2015 to support their response to climate change.
According to the JICA chief representative, the two projects would improve various capacity of disaster management such as detectable range of weather information, drainage capacity and accuracy of weather forecasting. He emphasised that these projects are under the National Disaster Management Plan formulated by the Pakistan government with JICA’s support.
“Japan has been consistently assisting disaster management through JICA since the 1980s and is willing to enhance it further through the support for implementation of the National Disaster Management Plan,” he said.
He lauded efforts of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to maintain the weather radar in the federal capital which is one of the four radars installed under Japan’s support in the past and requested the PMD to maintain the newly installed equipment.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk