Abid Lateef
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has launched a major initiative to modernise the country’s early flood warning and weather forecasting systems under the World Bank-funded Integrated Flood Resilience Adaptation Project (IFRAP).
The project, titled “Modernisation of Hydromet Services of Pakistan (MHSP)”, aims to strengthen the country’s climate resilience by enhancing PMD’s capacity to generate, analyse, and disseminate reliable hydrometeorological data, stated a press release.
According to official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the plan includes the installation of 110 Automatic Weather Stations, four Fixed Weather Surveillance Radars, and a High-Performance Computing System.
The project also entails hiring System Integrator and Radar Consultancy firms, upgrading the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics (IMG) and the Meteorological Workshop in Karachi, modernising observatories, establishing Regional Climate Data Processing Centres, and formulating both a National Framework for Climate Services and a National Hydromet Policy.
Led by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, the MHSP is designed to enhance flood forecasting, early warning systems, and climate risk management mechanisms nationwide.
The project has been allocated Rs2,998.6 million under the FY2025–26 Public Sector Development Programme. For the current quarter, Rs206 million has been earmarked, while total expenditure so far for FY2025–26 stands at Rs32.78 million, bringing cumulative spending since inception to Rs312.78 million.
