CM approves Rs5.5bn to launch Smart Safe City’s first phase

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has approved the signing of an agreement of Rs5.5 billion between the provincial police department and the National Radio & Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) to launch the first phase of the Smart Safe City project in Karachi’s red zone.

The approval of the agreement was made in a meeting held at the CM House on Wednesday, and was attended by Home Minister Zia Lanjar, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Sindh IGP Riffat Mukhtar, NRTC MD Brig. Asim Ishaque, Sindh Safe Cities Authority DG Asif Aijaz Shaikh and others.

The CM was told that the Smart Safe City project comprising 1,300 CCTV cameras would be installed at 300 sites in the red zone and airport road corridors with facial recognition and automatic number plate recognition.

To a question, the CM was told that the 193km optical fibre cable network would connect 18 police stations. The cameras would connect the Command & Control Centre (C&CC) of the Central Police Office and then a permanent C&CC would be constructed at the Karachi Police Office.

Under the system monitoring of hospitals for checking the presence of criminals/suspects, multiple camera tracking against suspects, database management of criminals and integration with national, criminal and other databases would be ensured.

The CM said the project was much awaited, and it was finally seeing the light of day. He hoped that the project would achieve its purpose. “I want the NRTC to complete the first phase of the project in one and a half years,” he said. Earlier, the NRTC had given a time frame of two years to complete the first phase.

The CM said Karachi has more than 20.38 million population, which would increase further by 2030, so an effective electronic surveillance system using the latest IT technologies is required in the city for real-time monitoring of activities.Sindh Safe Cities Authority DG Shaikh and NRTC MD Brig. Ishaque signed the agreement in the presence of the CM, the CS and others.