While the heavily budgeted project -- estimated at Rs13.7 billion, and being carried out by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) under the Punjab Safe Cities Ordinance 2015 -- is yet to earn the trust of the general public and the consent of the provincial assembly, it has already been launched with great fanfare and amidst a smattering of high-sounding words like ‘security,’ ‘safety’ and even ‘quality of life’.

Broadly speaking, the idea is to curb crime and detect any incidences of terrorism. The project, according to the PSCA official website, is also meant to deal with complicated civic issues such as traffic and transportation.

It entails installation of over 8,000 Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras on the city streets and roads, to begin with. The CCTV cameras, outfitted with the Global Positioning System (GPS), shall navigate an individual’s public movements by producing a precise, comprehensive record of it that covers a wealth of detail about their familial, political, professional, religious, and various associations.

Additionally, 600 camera-fitted vehicles plying on the roads, the cops sporting digital handsets, hiring of tech-savvy personnel, and engaging processes under the Integrated Command and Control Centre (IC3) also form part of the project which is likely to be completed by June 2017. This year’s Punjab budget speaks of similar projects that are going to be launched in Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and Multan at the cost of Rs44 billion.

The project has come under fire for bypassing the rules on individuals’ right to privacy as laid down in the constitution. "Nobody knows how much and for how long will the PSCA store such records for information, years into the future," says Waqqas Mir, a professional lawyer with expertise in civil law, regulatory law and constitutional law, talking to TNS.

"The knowledge of such surveillance could have a negative impact on freedoms of speech; it could provide the government with immense private information subject to misuse. The government must take the public in confidence before getting into their private territory."

Mir insists that in observing transparency, the PSCA ought to sensitise the common man about what shall be monitored, how much private data shall be secured, what steps shall be taken to prevent the data from any sort of misuse. "Digital security is the need of the hour but a balance between security and privacy must not be overlooked."

Opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed (PTI) also comes down hard on the enforcement modalities of the Safe City Project. He says: "It [the project] appears to have been launched in haste.

"Though the idea has a great import, given the emerging security situation in the country, I fail to understand why the assembly and the public weren’t engaged in any discussions on the making and implementation of the project."

He also blamed the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for ignoring public health care and educational projects in favour of such a heavily budgeted project.

In its defence, SSP Mobiles Syed Karrar Hussain says that surveillance through cameras does not mean encroaching on public’s privacy: "It only aims to protect the city more efficiently. Detection and prevention are the focus of the [Safe City] Project.

PSCA Chief Operating Officer (COO) Akbar Nasir Khan divulges on the details of the project: "At the outset, we have installed 500 cameras at important and sensitive sites of the city. There is a large LCD in IC3 to watch over real-time visuals of how the security cameras are helping the police and integrated departments in a coordinated action and quickest response time."

However, Khan agrees that "no system in the world can ensure foolproof security. Terrorist attacks have taken place in America, France and other developed countries despite their use of digital surveillance cameras."

Project Director, Huawei Company, says that security at Ashura (10th of Muharram) was the litmus test of the Phase I of the project which was a success.

The common citizen has differing views on the project. Where Mansoor Azam Qazi, an IT student in a private university, terms it as a "good initiative", Omar Warriach, a professional researcher in Science and Technology, is concerned about the project not involving state-of-the-art technology -- "[The] PSCA could’ve done better with the [system called] Internet of Things (IoT) along with other technological devices," he says. "If the management had taken all the relevant local researchers on board, it would be so much better."

Abdullah Mohammed Faisal, 45, an IT consultant, fears the cable lines or junction box between CCTV network would be cut, "as it often happens with our telephone and power cables."

Josh explains that instead of relying on internet connection, dedicated fibre optic cables are being laid down in deep surface in city roads. These shall be used for operation and functionality.

He says every site is covered by three to four cameras. "In case one [camera] goes kaput, until it is repaired, the other two shall keep watch."

Hafiz Sameer Khan, a security analyst, believes economic crisis and budget cuts that Pakistan is currently experiencing may affect the longevity of the Lahore Safe City Project. Khan also sees another threat faced by the project: "the change of government. Every new government has its own priorities and may make significant changes to the issue of security."

What is it all about?

In 1996, the United Nations, through its Habitat Agenda on Human Settlements (Habitat II), which was adopted at the Istanbul Conference, initiated a series of approaches and strategies to effectively reduce and eradicate violence and crime in the cities of the world. Later, many developed nations enforced safe -- or, smart -- city projects in their municipal cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Glasgow, London, Berlin, Oslo, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney, Bangalore and so on.

According to a 2014 report by Frost & Sullivan, the global market for smart city projects from the present up to the year 2020 is worth USD1.5 trillion, with 14 per cent of the total budget accounted for by safe city security solutions.

Pakistan adopted the safe city project at first in 2009 with Islamabad. It was re-launched in June 2014 after staying suspended for some months, and finally completed in October ’15.

Lahore Safe City Project, as per official data received from the PSCA, aims to look at many a key task: It shall work towards improving service delivery by making cultural, structural and technological changes in the Punjab Police. The process shall enable the provision of integrated emergency services like Rescue 1122, Fire Fighting and disaster relief to the police and public.

The other goal is to improve traffic management wherein the public shall be informed of traffic density and alternate routes through the Variable Messaging System (VMS), and also via broadcasts, minimising the travel times and reducing traffic gridlocks. This shall also save the public their fuel. E-challans shall also be issued through the system.

The third objective of the project is to ensure monitoring of law and order through anticipatory technologies. Police responders shall be available for real-time monitoring of public processions etc.

Fourthly, the target is to pave the way for electronic evidence collection and bring down the crime ratio from 20 to 30 per cent within the first five years of operation in the city. The police shall make use of a dedicated LTE/4G network for secure communication through UAVs and Mobile command and control centres.

Lastly, enhanced monitoring of public spaces, better utilisation of police resources, and improved command and control infrastructure are expected to provide better security to the city residents and visitors.