KARACHI, Feb 16: The President’s National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIW) in Sindh has entered a new phase as Suparco joins hands with the Programme Monitoring Unit-PMU (Sindh) of the NPIW to put in place a Geographic Information System (GIS) based tracking system for monitoring and evaluation of work of improvement of watercourses.

It is the first time in Sindh that a department has taken initiative towards establishing sophisticated mechanism of monitoring through GIS.

For this purpose the Sindh government through the PMU signed an agreement with the Suparco on Tuesday to develop a GIS-based system using remote sensing technology and satellite imagery for monitoring of the NPIW.

Mohammed Younus Dagha, project director PMU-NPIW Sindh and Suparco Director-General Arshad H. Siraj signed the contract on behalf of their respective sides at the Suparco headquarters, Karachi.

The project would be completed in two phases of four months each. In the first phase six high-targeted districts have been selected for mapping and developing of the GIS-based system.

The system would enable the PMU to collect data for monitoring and reporting the progress of work at each watercourse using satellite imagery and GPS/GSM technologies.

While improvement of watercourses in the province of Sindh is one of the most important and gigantic tasks involving a huge investment, it’s regular monitoring through a reliable system is one of the key factors for the success of the project.

Utilizing Suparco’s vast experience of working in Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) and Geographic Information System-GIS, PMU (Sindh) took the initiative of using satellite based technology to develop the system, involving integrated use of SRS and GIS.

Keeping in view, the time critical nature of the project and involvement of an extensive area, the satellite-based system being developed is an efficient option available to monitor the project reliably, quickly and cost effectively.

The system being proposed involves mapping through satellite images, development of dedicated GIS software and GIS databases, and a communication system to share/exchange data collected at different locations (watercourses) by the monitoring teams and four regional stations as well as PMU headquarters.

The system will be capable of collecting field data, updating records, generating report/maps in a most transparent and verifiable manner.—APP