Uzair bin Farid

The government has launched a flood protection project to protect 3.128 million people from the risk of water disasters in the future. According to the information and data available with WealthPK, the government of Pakistan has launched the National Flood Protection Plan (NFPP-IV) in the wake of the devastating floods of 2022 to save lives, livestock and infrastructure. Under the NFPP-IV, the government has initiated the Flood Protection Sector Project (FPSP-III) to the tune of Rs194 billion. The money for the project will be raised from various sources, including donors, allocations in the Public Sector Development Programme and the Annual Development Plan. The project, once completed, will protect 1.047 million hectares of agricultural land, 17,624 houses, 3,835 farm families, and 223 tubewells from floods. It will also protect infrastructure worth billions of rupees.

The project has been recommended by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) of the Planning Commission and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC). Under the project of FPSP-III, ‘structural’ interventions will be undertaken by the government to prevent future flooding , which is more likely due to climate change. The project will see the construction of small and medium dams for the conservation of floodwater, erection of flood embankments and dykes, spurs, retaining walls, flood diversion and dispersion structures, strengthening and remodelling of the existing flood embankments and dykes, and a special emphasis on the improvement of drainage network in Sindh and Balochistan.

Similarly, the project will also see the interventions of the non-structural kind like the improvement of the flood forecasting and early warning system of Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) through the installation of weather surveillance radars, automatic weather stations and the establishment of regional flood forecasting and early warning centres. In addition, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has been tasked with the installation of a flood monitoring system along the rivers, and the ministry of climate change will oversee the construction of ecosystem-based interventions under the Recharge Pakistan Project.

The effort to protect against threats of climate change and natural disasters has been turbocharged by the damage and loss caused by the floods of 2022. It was in the wake of those floods that the government initiated the Integrated Flood Risk Management (IFRM) approach. Under the approach, flood resilience will be improved through reducing vulnerability and exposure to floods, and better risk assessments. The government will use the IFRM to build resilient infrastructure for riverine and non-riverine flooding through nature-based solutions and land use planning.

Credit: INP-WealthPk