Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has approved Phase Two of the Karachi Safe City Project, sanctioning an estimated expenditure of PKR 9.98 billion toward a comprehensive urban surveillance and public safety infrastructure that will significantly expand the city’s monitoring network. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Sindh Safe Cities Authority chaired by the chief minister at the Chief Minister’s House, where he described ensuring public safety through modern technology as the government’s top priority and directed authorities to expedite approvals to ensure timely completion of the work.
A total of 2,314 smart surveillance cameras are to be installed under the project, including 870 for general monitoring, 1,300 equipped with automatic number plate recognition and facial recognition, 80 for traffic enforcement, 56 mobile surveillance units, and eight dedicated to traffic signal monitoring, with cameras to be installed across Karachi’s districts. The infrastructure accompanying the camera network is equally substantial, encompassing nine Points of Presence sites with solar and generator backup, a smart surveillance tower, 50 public panic buttons linked to a central command system, eight response vehicles equipped with onboard cameras, and 10 surveillance drones. The project is expected to be completed within twelve months, with work likely commencing in May 2026, though the chief minister cautioned that delays could result in cost escalation given rising global prices of surveillance equipment.
The chief minister noted that over one billion rupees had been saved during the procurement process through negotiations, reflecting financial discipline without compromising on quality, and termed the initiative a critical investment in public safety and national security. To support operational readiness alongside the hardware rollout, the Sindh Safe Cities Authority has also completed a merit-based, multi-stage recruitment process for technical staff, with the chief minister approving the appointments under the SSCA Act at the same meeting. Separately, the meeting reviewed proposals to establish Safe City projects in divisional headquarters including Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, and Shaheed Benazirabad at an estimated cost of PKR 3.15 billion, covering 780 cameras, with those proposals referred to the planning and development department for further review. The chief minister emphasised that all Safe City initiatives across Sindh must operate under a unified Sindh Safe Cities Authority framework to ensure standardisation, avoid duplication, and strengthen institutional coordination, adding that the Karachi project would improve not only crime prevention and response but also traffic management and emergency services across the city.
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