ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has launched a $10 million World Bank–backed project to modernize its early flood warning and weather forecasting network, aimed at strengthening national disaster preparedness and climate resilience, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Tuesday.

The announcement comes after one of Pakistan’s deadliest monsoon seasons in years, which has killed at least 1,037 people nationwide and damaged nearly 2.5 million acres of farmland, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Torrential rains have repeatedly inundated vast areas of Punjab and Sindh, destroying homes, crops and infrastructure, and underscoring the country’s urgent need for modern forecasting systems.

The new initiative, titled “Modernization of Hydromet Services of Pakistan (MHSP),” is being implemented by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) under the World Bank–funded Integrated Flood Resilience Adaptation Project (IFRAP). It seeks to strengthen climate resilience by improving the PMD’s capacity to generate, interpret and disseminate accurate hydrometeorological data.

“The MHSP will mark a key milestone in Pakistan’s disaster preparedness and climate resilience, providing timely and precise weather forecasts essential for agriculture, water resource management, and disaster risk reduction across the country,” a senior Planning Ministry official was quoted as saying in an APP report.

Led by the Ministry of Planning, the project has been allocated Rs2.99 billion ($10.8 million) under the FY2025–26 Public Sector Development Programme. 

According to project details reported by APP, the plan includes the installation of 110 automatic weather stations, four fixed weather surveillance radars, and a high-performance computing system to improve real-time monitoring and forecasting accuracy. 

The project also involves the modernization of the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics and the Meteorological Workshop in Karachi, the establishment of Regional Climate Data Processing Centers and the development of a National Framework for Climate Services and a National Hydromet Policy.

As of September 2025, procurement for automatic weather stations has been finalized, while the technical evaluation of radar and system integrator consultancies is underway. The PMD has also sought tax exemptions and supplementary funding of $42 million to address increased market costs and a financing gap identified during project execution.

Officials said the MHSP forms part of Pakistan’s broader effort to enhance flood forecasting and disaster management capacity after a series of devastating monsoon seasons that have exposed weaknesses in existing early warning systems.

Floods in 2022 killed at least 1,700 people and caused over $30 million in damages.