Project News

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (hereinafter called “JICA”), through the Resident Representative of JICA Pakistan Office, exchanged the views and had a series of discussion with the related Pakistan authorities with respect to desirable measures to taken by JICA and the Government of Pakistan for the successful implementation of “The Project for Strengthening of Flood Risk Management in Lai Nullah Basin” on 19 October 2007. As based on the results of above meetings, JICA dispatched the Expert Team from Japan on December 2007 and had reached an agreement of two (2) years activities with the concerned stakeholders. The concerned main stakeholders are Federal Flood Commission (hereafter called “FFC”), City District Government of Rawalpindi (hereafter called “CDGR”) and Pakistan Meteorological Department (hereafter called “PMD”). Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122, Civil Defense of CDRG, Water and Sanitation Agency Rawalpindi and Teshil Municipal Administration Rawal Town are also acting as counterpart member. This Project is the third assistance project from Government of Japan continuously after the flood in July 2001 which caused the worst damage in the Lai Nullah Basin including death of 74 people and the complete or partial destruction of about 3,000 houses. The Master Plan for Comprehensive Flood Mitigation and Environmental Improvement Plan for the Lai Nullah was proposed on September 2003 by JICA Study Team. The project for “Flood Forecasting and Warning System” is one component of the Master Plan and it was implemented on March 2006 and completed on March 2007 by the Japanese Grand-Aid Assistant. The new Project for Strengthening of Flood Risk Management in Lai Nullah Basin will continuously carried out the same purpose of the previous two (2) Projects and to improve the system and structure which enables mass evacuation at the vent of floods.

In particular, this project is aimed three outputs; 1) Capacity of PMD and CDGR are strengthened enough to utilized flood early warning system effectively and issue warning properly. 2) Capacity of local authorities is developed enough to promote people’s awareness and preparedness for the floods. 3) Capacity of related organizations is strengthened enough to mitigate the damage of flood. The project will be conducted in two years and which is divided in two phases, phase I started from December 2007 to November 2008 and Phase II starts December 2008 to November 2009. At the Phase I, JICA Expert Team will be cooperated with concerned counterpart to conduct the activities and the counterpart stakeholder will take an initiative for the Phase II (second years) activities.

Photo:Students are visiting Flood Forecasting and Warning Master Control Center in PMD on Jan. 2008