25 cameras installed in crime-hit Karachi

In an effort to combat the increasing street crime rate in Karachi, the Sindh government has kickstarted a long-awaited safe city project by installing cameras.

Initially, the government installed 25 cameras to surveillance the densely populated city. 

“The monitoring of the city has been centralised in the command and control centre in the central police office,” said the Head of Safe City Project, Asif Ajaz Sheikh.

He said that in the first phase, all 25 cameras were installed in the red zone, while 43 poles were built at different places.

Sheikh said the estimated cost of the project is expected to be Rs5 billion, of which the department has received Rs4 billion from the National and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC).

The equipment, including 1300 cameras and 300 poles, was dispatched to NRTC. 

“We are working on the project rapidly; it will be completed soon,” said Sheikh. 

A total of 1300 cameras would be installed in the first phase of the project, of which 1,044 would be new and 265 are old ones that would be upgraded.

The installed cameras with 12-megapixel resolution would help carry out digital forensics and image enhancement of acquired data, such as facial recognition, automatic number plate recognition, and other details. 

Under the project, over 12,000 surveillance cameras would be installed in phases across the port city.