Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Thursday that negotiations with the Chinese technology company Huawei for Phase II of the Karachi Safe City project are being finalised, with work on the scheme expected to begin soon. He said this during a meeting with Chinese Consul General Feng Deheng at the CM House, which was also attended by Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Syed Qasim Naveed. The meeting focused on finalising the government to government agreements that were recently signed between the Sindh government and Chinese firms during the visit of Shah to China. The chief minister said that he had inspected the Safe City system of Huawei during his recent visit.
Phase II of the Karachi Safe City project includes the installation of over 2,300 cameras. Of these, 870 are for general surveillance, 1,300 have automatic number plate recognition and facial recognition capabilities, and 80 are for traffic enforcement. The overall plan envisages nearly 10,000 cameras installed at over 2,000 locations across the city once all phases are complete. Shah said that Karachi, as the largest city of the country, requires a modern security and surveillance system, and that the provincial government aims to establish a state of the art Safe City system in Karachi, including a modern command and control centre.
The consul general congratulated the chief minister on the successful organization of the Shanghai Investment Conference, according to an official statement from the CM House. He noted that the participation of 400 investors reflected their confidence in the provincial government. Shah said that the provincial government is committed to improving cooperation with Chinese investors and promoting investment in various sectors. On agriculture, he said that discussions had been held on acquiring Chinese technology to increase sunflower and wheat production in Sindh, since the government wants to benefit from Chinese technical expertise to improve productivity.
The chief minister said that the government wants to install the remaining gates of the Sukkur Barrage during the winter season, and that it intends to speed up the installation of 100 gates for the barrage and its off taking canals. He added that during his visit he had also seen a company that makes barrage gates. The two sides also discussed a sister city relationship between Sukkur and Yichang, a city associated with the Three Gorges region of China, and Shah described Sukkur as a major agricultural and industrial centre with three universities and important healthcare facilities. He and the consul general agreed to form working groups in different sectors to facilitate the implementation of the agreements, and the meeting reaffirmed the commitment of both sides to cooperation in investment, technology, agriculture, urban security and infrastructure development.
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