The government has decided to allow import of regional flood information collection system equipment duty-free for which International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) will extend a grant.
Official documents available with Business Recorder reveal that the Cabinet was informed on March 14, 2012 that ICIMOD which was set up by eight Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan) as a regional research and development agency, in collaboration with World Meteorological Organisation launched Regional Flood Information System Project in 2009.
The aim is to facilitate regional co-operation for flood disaster risk reduction through early warning technology, exchange and supply of technical tools and resources. Under the project river level flow/rainfall and related information will be observed at specific sites and transmitted in real time using agreed and reliable means to the National Hydrological Services (NHSs) and National Meteorological Services (NMSs) used for flood forecasting purposes.
According to documents, after the disastrous floods of 1973 and 1976, in January 1977, Federal Flood Commission (FFC) was established for integrated flood management. Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) established in 1947 is responsible for providing meteorological service while Wapda is responsible for the development and maintenance of water and power infrastructures and monitoring of water flows.
Wapda is also responsible for installation of equipment at appropriate sites along with their maintenance, collection and dissemination of data. The FFC co-ordinates among Wapda, PMD and other national institutions to effectively manage and combat the floods. ICIMOD has offered a grant assistance of $174,000 (Rs 13.6 million) for repair of damaged gauging stations/infrastructure of new stations to strengthen the existing hydro meteorological network.
The areas of co-operation under the proposed Letter of Acceptance are as follows: (i) identification and agreement of hydrological and meteorological stations; (ii) establishment and/or upgradation of selected hydrological and meteorological stations; (iii) establishment of national flood information system to link it with regional flood information system for information and data sharing; (iv) operation and maintenance of installed hydro-meteorological stations and national flood information systems; and (v) hydrological, meteorological, telemetry and database management capacity building of concerned staff involved in this project.
The Ministry of Water and Power had proposed in its summary that Letter of Agreement (LoA) be signed by the ICIMOD, Federal Flood Commission, Pakistan Meteorological Department and Wapda. The draft of LoA has been vetted by the Law Division and cleared by Finance, Defence and Economic Affairs Divisions. After detailed discussions, the Cabinet approved signing of the LoA between the ICIMOD, FFC, PMD and Wapda.