LAHORE: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved $50 million fresh funding for a hydro-met project, said sources in the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

This fresh funding is a component of post-flood project worth $400 for the province of Balochistan, approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), they added.

It may be noted that the World Bank had approved $60 million for hydro-met project; however, the central government had requested the Bank to divert these funds to the flood-affected areas while pledging to allocate a similar amount for the PMD later. Therefore, the present allocation of $50 million has been made by the federal government.

The sources said the PMD has planned to install radar system in the city of Lahore to improve the flood forecasting of the department for a timely warning in case of any untoward situation ahead.

They said the existing infrastructure in the department has been either outdated or dysfunctional and it is not easy to cope with the fast changing climate behaviour in the region. Therefore, the donor agencies are aggressively pursuing the task of meeting financial and technical requirements of the meteorological department. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is also in a constant touch with the PMD authorities to assess its needs for the near future.

Meanwhile, the upper Punjab, including the hilly areas, is likely to receive rain by the weekend, however, the city of Lahore and rest of the central and south of Punjab would continue to face a dry spell, said PMD sources.

There is no chance of rain until the middle of January both in the central and south of Punjab, they said, and added that the foggy weather would continue with variables throughout the period. The PMD sources have also expected impressive snowfall in the hilly areas that may intensify the cold factor during the month of January.

According to the sources, the central Punjab is likely to witness further cold weather from Friday (today) onwards. Temperature may fall further, however, it would yet be lower than the extreme cold, which was very much likely in case of strong westerly winds in the Northern parts of the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023