The floods have not only caused damage to human life, but also the loss of precious agriculture land, infrastructure and wildlife habitat. Another deluge has hit a number of southern districts of Sindh while the memories of devastating floods of 2010 are still fresh.

The need of the hour is to have a pertinent flood forecasting and management strategy of water resources for minimizing the ravaging effects of the floods. Government should accelerate its efforts for setting up new water reservoirs and dams on emergent basis, Mahfooz Elahi, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has said in a statement.

ICCI President has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the lost of human lives caused by the torrential rains and devastating floods. He said that the outreach of the disaster management system needs to be further spread and made more effective as its current performance was much below the desired level.  There should be a coordinating cell in every affected locality to make relief efforts well integrated and target oriented, he added.

He said that it was high time for Government to invest in dams and construct large water reservoirs to save water being wasted. He said that the agricultural and economic future of Pakistan would be difficult unless we build more dams.

He was reacting to the reports that many dams and other water control infrastructure damaged by last year’s floods have not yet been repaired. Now country has to face another calamity in the form of worst rains, Governments should prioritize support for early recovery programs that help flood victims, he added.

ICCI President said that Pakistan constantly received flooding every year but damage could be minimized if Government build dams and water reservoirs which are the best instruments of flood control.