ISLAMABAD: The Japa­nese government has agreed to provide a grant assistance of $19 million to install a weather surveillance radar in Sukkur.

Such radars have already been upgraded in Islamabad and Karachi while another will be established in Multan under the grant aid provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Under the project, the new weather radar is being developed in Sukkur to cover a gap for weather surveillance and develop a weather surveillance radar network which can cover around 90 per cent of the country.

Japanese Ambassador in Islamabad Matsuda Kuninori and Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed on Monday signed and exchanged notes to formalise the grant assistance.

Multan will also have the facility

At the same time, Jica’s Chief Representative in Pakistan Furuta Shigeki and Joint Secretary of Economic Affairs Division Syeda Adeela Bokhari signed the grant agreement on implementation of the project.

It is expected that the project will enhance capacity on weather surveillance of Pakistan and contribute to mitigation of damages caused by natural and hydro-meteorological disasters.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Ambassador Matsuda said that the Japanese government would continue to work to make Pakistan disaster-resilient, making good use of experience and expertise Japan has gained from many disasters in the past.

Jica’s chief representative said that enhancement of weather surveillance capacity would mitigate the damage caused by natural disasters.

Through the grant aid, the Japanese government and Jica continued to assist disaster management conducted by the Pakistani government.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2021