LAHORE: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will fund development of river embankments and related infrastructure to protect Pakistan from floods in future, said sources. The JICA will initiate funding activities within the current calendar year, they added.

According to the sources, the agency has recently organised a workshop of flood commissioners to start consultation process. They said the workshop focused on the reasons behind breaching of river embankments during floods besides designs and material used in development them by Pakistani authorities.

The sources said the JICA made a detailed presentation on designing of river embankments in Punjab and pointed out that the Japanese authorities paste clay to strengthen the platforms used to build embankments. They said the workshop also discussed in detail dilapidated drainage systems in major cities all across Pakistan, which results into structural losses.

The JICA representatives also pointed out non-availability of efficient weather equipment and decided to upgrade it for timely intimation to deal with the devastating effects. They said participants of the meeting have agreed to hold another four to five meetings on the subject to ascertain the expenditures for upgrading the flood related infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the JICA has also agreed to carry out training programmes in Pakistan for capacity building of staff of flood commission and irrigation department.

According to the sources, the JICA has also appreciated Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Lahore for developing water storages in the city to manage rain waters. It was suggested by the JICA representatives in the meeting that other major cities should also follow the example set by the agency in Lahore city. They pointed out that Islamabad has a multiple sloppy areas therefore developing underground water storages is easy to manage rain’s water.

Also, it was pointed out that the amount of dust also remains low in Islamabad therefore, the district administration can easily utilize rainy water after filtering it out. They further suggested utilizing it for horticulture purposes. Pakistani authorities agreed to identify water storage points in Islamabad. Sources said the next meeting will take place on 5th of December.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022