ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Safe City Project, which was launched at a cost of over Rs15 billion in a bid to ensure law and order, added security and improvement in traffic management, is nearly out of order, Pakistan Today learnt on Sunday.
Sources privy to the project’s operations informed this scribe that the project’s authorities had partnered with a third-party to ensure the smooth operations, including software support but the contract with the company ended on May 28, 2019. Sources also said that due to the expiry of the contract, the software is facing multiple issues, including the shutting down of the recording facility.
Sources said that out of 1900 cameras, only 400 are in working condition. Sources also claimed that a high-profile person from the Punjab government is trying to hand charge of the project to a private firm in violation with PPRA Rules and without tenders. Sources added that 80 per cent crimes can be prevented by restoring the full functionality of the project and handsome revenue can be generated from traffic violators in the city.
Sources disclosed that the project was started in November 2011 at a cost of over Rs 11 billion and it was completed in May 2013. Later, ECNEC reviewed the project cost in December 2015 and approved over 15 billion as the total cost of the project. According to sources, the purpose of the revision was to include Rs4 billion under head duties and taxes. They said that according to PC-IV, the project was completed on October 2018 after a delay of almost 60 months. Furthermore, the Interior Ministry also submitted the completion report of PC-IV project with Ministry of Planning and Development for further processing, sources added.
It was also learnt that the evaluation section of Ministry of Planning had made certain suggestions after reviewing the completion report of the project. The evaluation section proposed to convert 61 posts out of total 159 positions in non-development budget for the sustainability of investment made for the establishment of the project besides change in the titles and scales (BPS) of some positions/posts of the project.
Sources said that Ministry of Interior was asked to implement the terms and conditions of the contract no 00Y5861012240A to achieve the objectives of the project. It was also asked to carry out a performance audit of the equipment.
Since sensitive information of Pakistani citizens are included in the data, an audit of all equipment should be done by a security board of National Telecom and Information Technology, sources said.
Pakistan Today tried reaching out to the Islamabad Safe City Authority but no comment was received till the filing of this story.
[…] Via: PakistanToday […]
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