Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan Chief Representative, Shigeki Furuta paid a courtesy call on Federal Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi in Islamabad.
In-charge of water sector JICA Pakistan and chief engineering adviser were also present in the meeting.
Elahi thanked JICA and the Japanese government for their continued presence in the overall development of various sectors of economy of Pakistan, including the water and flood control sector. The minister highlighted the need for further enhancement of collaboration among Pakistan and Japan in various sub-sectors of water like flood control, water supply and solid waste management, etc.
Furuta, while referring to JICA’s various completed and on-going projects in Pakistan, appreciated the level of cooperation JICA had been receiving from the federal flood commission, Ministry of Water Resources, P&D Department of Punjab including all other related departments.
He especially made mention of JICA’s contribution in managing flood issues of Lai Nullah in Islamabad – Rawalpindi, institutional strengthening of relevant departments, provision & installation of state of the art weather surveillance radars in Islamabad and Karachi and JICA’s plan of installing similar weather radars in Multan and Sukkur besides JICA’s plan to provide flood management and institutional capacity building experts to FFC and revision of National Disaster Management Plan of NDMA.
He informed that JICA has extensive presence in Punjab and is developing a model water supply management plan for Faisalabad city which shall be replicated in other cities as well. He also apprised the minister about JICA’s raising academy for capacity building of WASA, Lahore.
Elahi, while concluding the discussion, expressed the hope that the government of Japan will further increase support for Pakistan in the water sector — including initiatives on capacity building of institutions working under the Ministry of Water Resources through planned activities and for WASAs in Punjab to better manage water supply and solid waste management issues in cities like Gujrat, Wazirabad and others.
