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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s weather forecasting capability will get a boost with the installation of a new weather surveillance radar in Multan, using the Japanese grant assistance of Rs2.3 billion for which an agreement was signed here on Friday.
With the installation of this fifth weather surveillance radar, the weather coverage will go up to 80 per cent, benefiting 90pc of the population. So far, Japan has supported installation of four weather radars in Islamabad, Karachi, Dera Ismail Khan and Rahim Yar Khan, bringing total weather radars operating in Pakistan to eight.
Besides this, the Japanese government would provide Rs360 million scholarships for human resource development.
The agreements for the two projects were signed by Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Takashi Kurai and Additional Secretary of Economic Affairs Division Ahmad Hanif Orakzai in the presence of Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Nakane, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Director General of Pakistan Meteorological Department Dr Ghulam Rasul and Chief Representative of JICA Pakistan Office Yasuhiro Tojo.
The installation of weather radar system in Islamabad has been completed and it has started operation, but it is yet to be handed over to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
At a briefing held here, Dr Ghulam Rasool said the radar in Islamabad would be handed over to the PMD in October this year, while installation of a weather radar in Multan would be completed by 2021-22.
He said that after the radar system in Lahore was modernised, the PMD would be able to forecast weather 400 kilometres inside India, covering Indian Punjab and held Kashmir.
Speaking on the occasion, Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Nakane said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Finance Minister Asad Umar, “we believe that Naya Pakistan will be definitely realised and we hope that these two projects will be of some help to strengthen the friendly relationship and cooperation between Japan and Pakistan”.
“With regard to the project for human resource development scholarships, Japan has been providing its technical cooperation to Pakistan since 1954 and it has received more than 6,500 fellows in Japan so far under the programme.
“Under this project, scholarships will be offered to Pakistani officers and they will study at universities in Japan for master’s and doctor’s degrees, with an objective to resolve development challenges in Pakistan,” he said.
The Japanese minister expressed the hope that the Pakistani officers obtaining degrees from the Japanese universities would play an important role in socio-economic development of Pakistan and strengthen the existing cordial relations between the two countries.
Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2018
