Expressing concern over organized terrorist activities in Karachi, particularly the recent car bomb attack near the airport, Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman AltafShakoor here Monday demanded of the government to accelerate the pace of work on much delayed Karachi Safe City project.
He said this crucial project after the delay of eight long years was started previous month with the government making payment of more than Rs3 billion to the National Radio & Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) for its execution, with installation of 1,044 new surveillance cameras and upgrade of 256 old ones.It is said that in the first phase, the Red Zone and airport corridor would be covered.
Total 1,300 cameras would be installed in the first phase. Among these 1,300, 1,044 would be new and the rest 256 are the old ones which would be upgraded. These 1,300 cameras would be installed at 300 sites in districts South, East, Malir and Korangi.AltafShakoor said that it needs that this project needs to be completed as soon as possible to make the megacity safer and more secure.
He said the recent terrorist act near the Karachi airport has increased the urgency to complete this project as soon as possible.He said as per the original plan with 12 megapixel cameras in place, the safe city system would help carry out digital forensic and image enhancement of the acquired data, facial recognition, automatic number plate recognition which is called ANPR, which will be integrated with national and criminal databases.
The 1,300 cameras would be supported by “response force” on the ground moving on 23 vehicles across the designated areas.
