The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has been included in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework to increase its capacity of forecasting capability, said Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal. Speaking in the Senate during question hour on Friday, he said that the PMD has been included in CPEC framework to enhance its capacity, adding steps were being taken to upgrade forecasting equipment and network of the department.
In a written reply to the House, Incharge of the Aviation Division told the Senate that it was not correct that most of the weather forecasts during 2016-17 were not accurate.
However, some quantitative assessments went wrong due to old equipment and rapidly occurring changes in weather patterns due to climate change, he said, adding the observatories are equipped with old equipment and most of PMD weather radars have completed their life span and more than 20 years old ranging from 20-39 years.
He said that PMD has a network of 97 observatories all over the country to monitor weather conditions. This network is supported by seven weather radars and a very limited network of about 45 Automatic Weather Stations for remote areas, he added.
For replacement of old equipment and to improve the density of monitoring network, the PMD has submitted a concept proposal on "Strengthening of Monitoring Network and Early Warning System" to the government. The minister further said that the government has approved the proposal and it is in process to seek funds for implementation of the project.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab told the House that inquiry into the ATR aircraft crash near Havelian is underway, adding an investigation committee of Safety Investigation Board (SIB) constituted by the government which is investigating the incident and report of the board is not yet finalise.
He said that soon after the incident of December 07 2016, CAA grounded all the nine active ATRs of PIACL including five ATR-72 and four ATR-42 for shake down inspection. Out of them, six have been cleared by CAA for flying, he said, adding PIACL has its own full-fledged flight safety and quality assurance department, which has been directed to be more vigilant in respect of inspections and monitoring of aircraft to ensure safety and security of the passengers and aircraft.
He further said that after each check of any nature pertaining to the airworthiness of an aircraft, CAA issues "certificate of airworthiness" upon carrying out physical inspection of each aircraft as per their set procedures and standards of international level.
To another question, he said that the government is taking every step for the capacity building of the Airport Security Force (ASF) to ensure security, adding the ASF has been equipped with state of the art weapons and equipment. He further said that a state of the art multi-layered Interpreted Security System (ISS) has been installed at Lahore airport and it is being extended to other airports as well. The House was further told in written reply that the Aviation Division has remitted a total of Rs 4.7 million during fiscal year 2015-16 under the head of airport tax.
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