CM Murad Ali Shah approves Rs30bn Safe City Project to install 10,000 CCTV cameras

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has approved the launch of the Safe City Project worth Rs30 billion, under which 10,000 CCTV cameras would be installed in Karachi in three phases, each of which would be completed within 12 months starting next financial year 2021-22.

The CM took this decision on Friday while presiding over a meeting to review the progress of the Safe City Project. The meeting was told that the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) had submitted technical and financial proposals in this regard that needed to be evaluated by the evaluation committee.

The CM approved constitution of a nine-member technical committee under the chief operating officer of the project to evaluate the NRTC’s proposals.

He also approved the proposal of assigning the charge of CEO to Muquddus Haider and Chief Technical Officer to Tabassum Abbasi.

The technical committee would evaluate the technical and financial proposals in line with the PC-I documents and would also evaluate the project phasing as recommended by the NRTC in consultation with the planning and development department. The technical committee would also oversee the project’s execution.

Shah approved the execution plan under which 10,000 cameras would be installed in three phases and each phase would be completed within 12 months. In the first phase, cameras would be installed at all the entry/exit points of the city and in District South for Rs9.9 billion.

In the second phase, cameras would be installed in three districts of the city for Rs9.8 billion and the locations for the purpose would be selected later on. In the third and the concluding phase, three more districts would be covered for Rs9.7 billion.

The CM directed the finance department to arrange Rs10 billion for the first phase in the next financial year. “I want to start the project with the start of the next financial year 2021-22,” he said. He also directed Planning and Development Board Chairman Mohammad Waseem to start the process for the approval of the PC-1 from all the relevant forums by the end of the current financial year.

Shah was told that 8,000 cameras would be of 12 MP quality and 2,000 of eight MP. In this way, 10,000 cameras would be installed at over 2,000 locations with solar power back-up. There would be a central and regional command centre and a database centre for the system.

The meeting was also told that at present, 2,196 cameras were installed at 538 locations in the city, of which 1,201 belonged to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, 198 to the IT department and 155 to the Sindh police.