Govt suspends E30m Met project
MBABANE – Government has suspended a project worth over E30 million, which aims to sharpen the country’s responsiveness to hostile weather, such as hail and thunderstorms.
The augmentation of meteorological observation stations and installation of thunderstorm detection equipment got zero budget this year, despite that the country is on the receiving end of menacing hail, thunderstorms and torrential rains, that have reduced large rural populations into literal beggars, overnight.
Families with an inherent culture of farming for subsistence and commercial purposes have watched crops being destroyed, roofs being blown away and poultry and piggery projects being ruined by hailstorms, as a result of climate change-related phenomena.
The budget estimate for the stations is E30 605 000, while in the previous year, the stations were allocated E11 957 000. This year, they will not get any allocation, while it is estimated that by next year, the stations will get E18 500 000 if there is no counter eventuality.
The government budget estimates state that the project was suspended.
This newspaper gathered that during budget planning, the Ministry of
Tourism and Environmental Affairs sacrificed some projects because they were of a lesser priority and those included the thunderstorm detection equipment.
As a result, weather forecasters will continue to rely on equipment that needs an upgrade.
Eswatini Meteorological Service Director Duduzile Masina said the Meteorological (Met) project was a component of the early warning system, which is part of the tools for detecting climate and sending warnings in time, when necessary.
Detection
Masina said the thunderstorm detection system was procured about two or four years ago, but its implementation was not yet complete, as there were other components still missing.
She said the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs was releasing budgets based on a set priority list.
Though, she said work in early warning detection was continuing, the processes to upgrade the early warning system was, however, moving slowly, yet the severity frequency of hostile weather was higher.
Masina said the thunderstorm monitoring equipment was live and useful, but the other work of advancing the early warning system was moving slowly.
“We are aware that the United Nations advocates for early warning for all and you will recall that Sibaya’s submissions also touched on this. But, we have to work with what we have at the moment and keep noting the areas that need to be upgraded.
She said her department was now focused on improving the efficiency of the information dissemination process.
“We want to be able to say that we are seeing a development of a hailstorm from afar and warn the nation as early as possible,” she said.
She, however, said the slow pace of upgrading could be detrimental to the system because “we all know that IT equipment needs to be upgraded from time to time, failing which, its effectiveness may be affected,” the director said.
Masina said the persistent rains that fell across the country over the weekend, were reported by her department while using the current system. “We do what we can, with what we have, while soliciting funds from government,” she said.
She said after the system has been fully implemented it would help people to prepare for storms beforehand.
Disseminate
Masina said the project was teaming up with organisations such as the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) to disseminate information through text messages to warn the nation in the event there would be hostile weather.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Khangeziwe Mabuza confirmed that the project was not allocated a budget this year, but said it was still a priority for government.
“It is true that such tools are very important to detect weather and report to the nation. But, government decided to halt the implementation for now, while other measures are being used in the interim,” she said.