He said a summary for hiring 200 personnel for the Safe City Project has been sent to Secretary Ministry of Interior for approval by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). "Following hiring of staff, the Chinese firm will give them month-long training on the operation of the project," he added. The official said the project consists of Emergency Command Center equipped with 72 screens and drone cameras, 1,950 CCTV cameras, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag readers, turnstiles and barriers to report, identify, control and manage any accident as well as ensuring timely action against any suspect appearing on the screen.
RFID is the wireless use of electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information. The project will also equip law enforcement agencies with a computer aided dispatch system and other software such as facial recognition and vehicle management system, he said.
He said that the bombproof Emergency Command Center is spread over 2,000 sq meters, and all the cameras have been connected with the centre through 500kms of fiber optic cable which would be operated through a 4G network. The official said that Chinese government has provided $124.975 million (Rs 11.865 billion) as soft loan for the project. Under the agreement, the Chinese firm will provide maintenance and backup support for one year after launching of the project, he said.
He said that Ministry of Interior has decided to convene a team of Scotland Yard following the completion of the project, to give their input about the location of the cameras installed in different parts of the city. The project was approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on November 11 2011 by the government of Pakistan People Party (PPP) following an agreement between Pakistan and China.
The project was challenged in the Supreme Court and a three-member bench on August 23, 2012 struck down the contract. The project was renegotiated with Chinese firm after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government came into power and the two sides agreed to undertake the project.