PESHAWAR: The proposed Peshawar Safe City Project will be completed at the cost of Rs19 billion, a meeting was informed on Saturday.

The meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was called to review progress on the project, according to an official statement issued here.Besides Inspector General of Police Dr Sanauallah Abbassi, principal secretary to the CM Shahab Ali Shah, planning and development secretary Humayun Khan and capital city police officer Mohammad Ali, the meeting was also attended by the relevant officials of the police and home departments.

Officials briefed participants about the project, including estimated cost, completion time, current status and future plan of action.

They said 11 kanals of land had been allotted for the construction of the offices of the project’s Command and Control Centre; a survey of 31 police stations had been completed, and 940 points had been identified for the installation of 3,500 cameras.

CM says initiative should cater for city’s future security needs

The officials said the proposed initiative’s PC-I had been submitted to the Provincial Development Working Party for approval and would later be sent to the Central Development Working Party and Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for consent.

They also informed the meeting about the comparison of the project’s cost with those of Lahore, Islamabad andPeshawar safe city projects.

The statement said the chief minister expressed satisfaction with the progress on the initiative and asked the quarters concerned for the early PC-I approval from the relevant forums.

He said the project would offer all-time solution to the provincial capital’s security issues.

Mr Mahmood asked the relevant authorities to carry out a detailed study of the Lahore and Islamabad safe city projects before the start of work on Peshawar’s to prevent mistakes committed during the execution of those projects.

He said work on the Peshawar Safe City Project should begin only after ensuring its feasibility in all respects.

The chief minister said a suitable financing mood and operational module should be adopted to make the initiative feasible and sustainable, while a comprehensive strategy should be devised to address technical issues for the successful execution of the project.

“Protection of public life and property is both responsibility and top priority of my government. We will use all available resources for it,” he said.

The chief minister directed the relevant authorities to design the Peshawar Safe City Project to cater for the city’s future security needs.

He directed the relevant departments to fix realistic timelines and take the required steps for the project.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2020