Japan will provide Rs 3.2 billion ($36 million) to Pakistan for improving the disaster management through capacity-building of sewerage and drainage services and the weather forecasting system. Bilateral agreements were signed for "the project for upgrading of mechanical system for sewerage and drainage services in Gujranwala" and "the project for establishment of specialised medium range weather forecasting center and strengthening of weather forecasting system," here on Thursday.
Hiroshi Inomata Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan and Saleem Sethi Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments. On the same occasion, agreements on the details of implementation of these projects were also signed between Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki Chief Representative of JICA and Shaista Sohail Joint Secretary EAD.
The grant for the project "Establishment of Specialised Medium Range Forecasting Centre (SMRFC) and Strengthening of Weather Forecasting" worth Japanese Yen 2615 million ($26 million) will be utilised to minimise damage to people's life and property from natural disaster like heavy rain, flood etc; promote safe operation of civil aviation, marine transport and land transport; upgrade the living standard of the people; play effective role as a member of World Meteorology Organisation (WMO) more efficiently. Under the project implementation, machineries would be handed over by January 2017.
Under the project, the existing meteorological radar in Islamabad will be replaced, an upper-air observation system and a meteorological data communication system will be installed, and a specialised medium range weather forecasting center will 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 chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The grant for the project "up-grading of mechanical system for sewerage and drainage services in Gujranwala" worth Japanese Yen 1031 million ($10.13 million) will be utilised for sewerage and drainage machinery/cleaning equipment facility as well as for operation, maintenance and monitoring of the project equipment for health and safety of the workers. The completion of installation of equipment and construction of radar is scheduled by June 2017, while completion of soft component (training for radar operation, maintenance, etc) BY August 2017.
Under the project, disposal pumps as well as cleaning/de-silting equipment 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 improve sanitation and reduce risk of inundation caused by heavy rains. Rational behind the project is the mitigation of inundation damage for about 1.7 million citizens of Gujranwala, improvement of urban environment and sanitation directly or indirectly. Currently, sewerage coverage rate in the city is 68 percent.
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. Japan gives high priority to disaster management in its development assistance for Pakistan. "Both Japan and Pakistan are disaster-prone countries," he said, adding that they would 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 further said that Japan had committed in November 2013 that it would provide $16 billion (Rs 1.4 trillion) of public and private finance to developing countries over the three years from 2013 to 2015 to support their response to climate change. The projects agreed with Pakistan, form a part of the commitment.
Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki said that the two projects will 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 Government of Pakistan 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. While appreciating the Japanese support, Secretary EAD expressed the Government's commitment to further strengthen development co-operation between the two countries.
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