ISLAMABAD: The governments of Japan and Pakistan have agreed to implement two projects worth $36 million for disaster management through improving the capacity of sewerage and drainage services and the weather forecasting system in Pakistan.

The agreements for the `project for upgrading mechanical system for sewerage and drainage services in Gujranwala and the establishment of specialised medium-range weather forecasting centre and strengthening of weather forecasting system were signed in Islamabad on Thursday.

The 3.64 billion Japanese yen agreement was signed by Hiroshi Inomata, the ambassador of Japan, and Saleem Sethi, the secretary economic affairsdivision.

Under the first project, disposal pumps as well as cleaning/de-silting equipment will be provided to upgrade the existing sewerage and drainage capacity in the Gujranwala city.

It will also serve to enhance the number of connections to the sewerage and drainage system,andconsequentlyincrease the sewerage coverage rate.

This will ultimately help in improved sanitation and reduced risk of inundation caused byheavy rains.

Under the second project, the meteorological radar in Islamabad will be replaced.

An upper-air observation system and a meteorological data communication system will also be installed besides the establishment of a specialised medium-range weather forecasting centre.It will enable the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and disseminate these forecasts and warnings speedily.

Referring to the repetitive floods in Pakistan in the recent years, Mr Inomata noted natural disasters had become one of the major obstacles for economic development in the country.

He said Japan gave priority to disaster management in its development assistance for Pakistan. `Both Japan and Pakistan are disaster-prone countries,` he said.

`We will continue to work together to make Pakistan a disaster-resilient country by malcing good use of experience and expertise Japan has gaine d from disasters in the past.

Mr Inomata added that the government of Japan had com-mitted in November 2013 that it would provide 1.6 trillion Yen (about $16 billion) for public and private finance to developing countries over the three years from 2013 to 2015 to support their response to climate change.

According to Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki, the chief representative of JICA Pakistan office, the two projects would improve the capacity of disaster management in the country.

He said these projects were under the National Disaster Management Plan formulated by the government of Pakistan with JICA`s support.

Japan has been consistently assisting disaster management through JICA since the 1980s and is willing to enhance it further through the support for the implementation of the National Disas ter Management Plan.