ISLAMABAD: China will fund $200 million for upgrading the latest weather equipment for Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) after its Rs19 billion plan for upgrading equipment was finally made part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Under this plan, the PMD will also be able to procure the latest weather radars, enabling it to replace its obsolete weather radars currently installed at Lahore, Sialkot and Mangla, avoiding reliance on India, officials said.
Currently, Pakistan has to rely on data gathered by obsolete radars.
Officials insisted that India took advantage of this situation and often provided ‘misleading’ or poor data to Pakistani weather authorities.
Recently a comprehensive three-year plan for upgrading the early warning weather system was moved to the Economic Affairs Division after a seven-month-long delay.