RAWALPINDI: Work on Safe City project worth Rs3.5 billion started in Rawalpindi, with 350 close circuit TV (CCTV) cameras to be installed in the Red Zone of the garrison city in the first phase.

The project had been hanging in balance for the last three years but the caretaker provincial government decided to start work on it and initially allocated Rs3.5 billion.

The first phase of the project will likely be completed by the end of January. The administration has been asked to install cameras and connect them with a control room before the elections scheduled for February 8.

Talking to Dawn, Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema said the project had commenced in the garrison city and CCTV cameras would be installed in the Red Zone area, including roads around GHQ.

He said the control room would be established in the City Police Office, adding that the grey structure had already been constructed while brick work would be completed within two weeks.

He said the total cost to be incurred on the control room for the garrison city was Rs1 billion and the remaining amount would be spend on the purchase of cameras and control room equipment.

The deputy commissioner said in the second phase, more than 3,000 CCTV cameras would be installed in and around the garrison city including crowded markets, mosques, bazaars, major highways, entrances and exits, railway stations, bus terminals, district and high courts, important bridges, educational institutions, police stations, central jail and other sensitive installations.

Mr Cheema said the district administration would ensure that the fibre cables of the cameras were placed underground and the cameras handed over to the Safe City Authority after installation.

He said in Lahore, the project was functional and had helped the administration and police manage surveillance which would not have been possible earlier. He said with the increase in population, new technology was necessary for civic facilities.

The deputy commissioner said the Safe City project was already working in the adjoining federal capital and after the system was installed in the garrison city, surveillance to maintain law and order would be improved.

Published in Dawn, january 1st, 2024