Sindh focuses on long-term flood resilience
KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Irrigation, Planning and Development Jam Khan Shoro on Friday said the province is shifting from emergency flood response to long-term risk reduction and climate resilience. He stressed the need for data-driven planning and integrated flood management. The minister spoke at a workshop organised by the Sindh Irrigation Department, in collaboration with the World Bank…
Sindh's Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro announced on Friday that the province is moving away from emergency flood response and towards long-term flood risk reduction and climate resilience. This shift is part of a broader effort to adopt data-driven planning and integrated flood management, he emphasized during a workshop organized by the Sindh Irrigation Department in partnership with the World Bank.
The workshop aimed to showcase a study evaluating flood risks and mitigation methods along the Indus River's right bank. Shoro highlighted that the catastrophic floods of 2022 had significantly impacted communities, destroyed crops, and disrupted livelihoods across Sindh province. He noted that while rebuilding damaged infrastructure was necessary, it was not enough to safeguard the province from future disasters.
As the lower riparian region of the Indus River, Sindh remains particularly vulnerable to rainfall and fluctuations in water flow upstream. Shoro emphasized that water is crucial to Sindh's agriculture and economy, but uncontrolled water movement poses significant risks to communities and infrastructure. The right-bank study, he explained, offers an evidence-based strategy for identifying mitigation measures, which will inform the development of the proposed Sindh Flood Resilience Project (SFRP).
This project will concentrate on enhancing protective infrastructure, establishing early-warning systems, improving emergency preparedness, and building institutional capacity. Additionally, the government intends to extend comprehensive flood-risk assessments and planning to the Indus's left bank, especially in areas with drainage issues, in order to devise an integrated flood-resilience strategy for the entire province.
The government remains committed to implementing institutional reforms and enhancing water-resource management to bolster its preparedness for future challenges. The workshop, held in Karachi, saw participation from the Chairman of the Sindh Planning and Development Board, Najam Ahmed Shah, the Sindh Irrigation Secretary, Zarif Khero, Pakistan's Indus Waters Commissioner Mehar Ali Shah, the Chairman of the Federal Flood Commission, Athar Hameed, an Indus River System Authority member, World Bank experts, and other federal and provincial officials.
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