Project underway to modernise Met Dept.

By Saman Indrajith

The technology used by the Sri Lanka’s Met Department is about 25 years from the cutting edge, State Minister of Defence, Premitha Bandara Tennakoon told Parliament on Wednesday.

However, the government was modernising the Met Department with funds from the World Bank, he said.

“We are in the process of recruiting an expert who understands the latest developments in meteorological technology. Tenders have been called and we have received applications. However, this will take some time.”

Sri Lanka was extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Tennakoon said.

The State Minister said that the Met Department works closely with the Disaster management Centre (DMC), National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Irrigation Department and institutions in charge of power and energy.

“Now we provide a blanket forecast to these agencies. We have identified several sectors, i.e., power and energy, aviation, shipping, and hospitality. If we can provide them with a specialized, tailor-made forecast, we can make money out of it. We can use that money to further modernize and train our officers. We have taken the first step,” he said.