Islamabad, 4 April 2024: The Government of Japan decided to provide additional grant of JPY
832 million (approx. US$5.5 million) for “the Project for Installation of Weather Surveillance
Radar in Sukkur”, which was announced on 25 January 2021 with the original cost of JPY1,986
million (approx. US$13.12 million).
The Notes to this effect were signed and exchanged between H.E. Mr. WADA Mitsuhiro,
Ambassador of Japan and Dr. Kazim Niaz, Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs on
April 4, 2024. On the same occasion, amended grant agreements of the project were signed
today between Mr. Naoaki MIYATA, Chief Representative, Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) Pakistan Office, and Mr. Saeed Ashraf Siddiqui, Joint Secretary Ministry of
Economic (EAD).
The decision of this additional grant is in response to a request made by the Government of
Pakistan due to a shortfall in the project cost caused by market price escalation.
Pakistan has a high frequency of natural disasters, such as floods, landslides, cyclones, and
earthquakes. Quite notably, Pakistan experiences heavy damage to large parts of the country
every year due to floods triggered by heavy rains during the monsoon season.
Apart from this
grant, we will train PMD’s staff through the technical cooperation project to improve the
capacity of PMD for meteorological observation, forecasting, dissemination of meteorological
information, contributing to the reduction of damage from natural disasters by utilizing the
essential information with disaster-related stakeholders, such as NDMA and FFC.
We have already supported the Islamabad, Karachi, and Multan radars. After the installation of
the Sukkur radar, the radars supported by JICA will cover almost 90% of areas in Pakistan.
Ambassador WADA said, “with the completion of this project in 2026, together with the projects
in Islamabad, Karachi and Multan, which Japan has helped establish, 90% of Pakistan's land
area will be covered by the weather radar system. Accurate weather forecasts provided by
these radars will help people to prepare for heavy rains and reduce the personal and economic
damage caused by floods in the future.
This project is in line with the spirit and policy of flood
recovery expressed by Pakistan at the Geneva conference in January last year.”
The Government of Japan and JICA continue the assistance to enhance the disaster risk
management initiatives of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
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