In order to effectively manage floods, the Japanese government granted a $18.5 million grant on Wednesday for the construction of three embankments on the Indus River in the Haripur district and rain meters at 45 locations along the river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
The biggest floods in Pakistan’s history occurred in 2022, killing 1,700 people, destroying homes and cattle, destroying large areas of agricultural land, affecting 33 million people, and causing losses estimated by the government to be $30 billion.
“The Government of Japan has authorized a grant of JPY 2.831 billion (US$ 18.5 million) to the Government of Pakistan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a Grant-in-Aid project named ‘Flood Management Enhancement in the Indus Basin,'” the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The project aims to reduce the risk of loss to people and the economy, including infrastructure, improve the accuracy of flood forecasts and flood control functions, and collect basic data that contribute to disaster risk reduction measures.”
The three embankments built as part of the project grant will shield nearby towns from possible infrastructure and human and financial losses. To assist in anticipating and managing possible floods, the Federal Flood Commission and Water and Power Development Authority will share data from the water and rain meters with other agencies.
“In addition to repairing the river structures damaged by the 2022 floods in the Indus River and its tributaries, the project’s scope includes developing a hydrological and hydraulic observation network,” the statement continued.
The agreement was inked today in Islamabad by Japanese Ambassador Wada Mitsuhiro and Economic Affairs Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz.
Speaking at the signing event, Ambassador Wada said he hoped the project will give Pakistanis peace of mind about potential floods in the future.
The ambassador stated that Japan is still dedicated to offering aid that will directly help Pakistan’s most disadvantaged citizens.
In order to improve flood forecasting and weather monitoring systems, Pakistan and Japan finalized an agreement in October to purchase and install 45 telemetry stations and five automatic weather stations.
With the assistance of foreign lenders, the federal and provincial governments jointly financed the project, which was a component of the larger Flood Protection Programme, which was valued at Rs 200 billion.
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