Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday said work done so far on the Safe City project is a significant step toward establishing Karachi as a safer city through enhanced surveillance and response capabilities.
During a meeting he chaired at the CM House, Shah said he had got the work on the project’s first phase significantly accelerated. The project, which is aimed at enhancing public safety and security, has reached several key milestones, he added.
Sindh police chief IG Ghulam Nabi Memon said that 1,300 cameras would be installed at different locations. All 300 pole site surveys and 18 point of presence (POP) site surveys have been completed, he added.
Memon said that under civil work, right of way approvals from all the relevant stakeholders have been obtained, and foundation excavation and digging have been completed at 200 pole sites.
Fifty poles have been installed so far, with work under way at the remaining sites, while the control room and data centre equipment, along with a video wall, have been installed at the Central Police Office (CPO), receiving live feed through 35 cameras installed at seven locations, he added.
He said that all the shipments of equipment have been received and safely stored. Five emergency response vehicles have also been procured and branded, he added. Replying to a question, the IG said the allocation of 18 POP sites within police stations has been completed, with groundwork started after surveys and renovation estimates.
He said the Safe City Authority’s headquarters is being established at Sharea Faisal, for which land has been developed and handed over to the National Radio & Telecommunication Corporation.
Responding to another query, the police chief said that so far 35 cameras have been made operational under the project, and the installation of other cameras is in progress. Later, IG Memon held a meeting at the CPO to review the Special Protection Unit’s (SPU) security measures for Chinese citizens. The SPU chief said that a contingent of 1,100 personnel has been made part of the unit, while the security plan for the deployment of new police personnel is also being implemented.
The IG ordered that only the best and the most dutiful officers and personnel be appointed in the SPU, and all the necessary steps be taken to keep the personnel deployed for the Chinese citizens’ security mentally and physically fit, active and fresh.
He said that special care should be taken to provide duty hours and facilities to the police personnel. He ordered that a special curriculum be formulated for the mental development of the personnel, while their hosts also be obliged to provide bulletproof vehicles to Chinese citizens associated with various ongoing projects in Sindh.