LAHORE - Finally, Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated the multi-billion safe city project in Lahore after years-long delay.
The first of its kind project of high-tech surveillance will help police ensure security monitoring of the provincial metropolis with the 8000 close circuit cameras (CCTVs). According to officials, the Safe City Project was completed in Lahore with an estimated cost of Rs12 billion
Automatic system of identification of vehicles number plats, E-ticketing, traffic signal monitoring as well as latest communication system have been set up in the system called the Punjab Police Integrated Command Control and Communication Center, also known as IC3.
After the inauguration, the Chief Minister inspected various sections of the center. Also, he expressed his satisfaction over the provision of various facilities and asked the staff to work with more dedication.
While addressing the ceremony, the Chief Minister said that Safe City Project is a milestone initiative for transforming the age-old police system according to needs and equipments of the modern times.
Moreover, this project is very vital in maintaining peace through latest technology, provision of emergency services and elimination of terrorism, the CM said. Despite many challenges and impediments, this project has been completed in a record period due to the collective efforts of the Punjab government, Safe City Authority and Chinese company Huawei.
This project has fully been made operational in five of the six divisions of Lahore while the work is going on in full swing in the sixth division which will become fully operational till the end of current month. The chief minister also congratulated the heads of line departments and their team members.
Following completion of this project, Shehbaz Sharif said, Lahore will be included among the cities of the world where latest technology has been provided to protect the life and property of the citizens along with controlling the crime-rate. Due to the Safe City Project, composite strategy would be adopted with regard to traffic management, dolphin and healthcare of the citizens and the city comprising of more than 10 million people will become more peaceful and the business activities will be fully protected.
He said that safe city will be transformed as the smart city in the coming days and for that purpose, it has been decided to constitute a high-level committee. He said that work has been started to launch the safe city project in six other cities including Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Sargodha and Bahawalpur and this project will be completed very speedily in these districts.
While responding to the anti-Pakistan tweets of US President Donald Trump, the Chief Minister termed the tweets as tragic and detrimental to Pakistan’s national honour and respect. “This statement of the US President is a slap over our identity. We will have to give a sane and audacious reply to this tweet,” he said.
“There is no nation in the world which has progressed through loans. The nations who were defeated in wars have achieved the pinnacle of glory through hard work, collective wisdom and positive approach. It should be a matter of concern for all of us that we have been held accused and defamed for the last 70 years,” the chief minister said.
He further said that it was the time to adopt a sane approach to achieve the goal of self-reliance. “We need not to be engaged in any confrontation but the whole nation should collectively decide and give a reply to the US that we do not need your money, loan or grant.” “We will eat a simple food but will not let our nation be insulted. Had we not made mistakes in the past, today we will not to be taunted for 33 billion dollars aid,” he said while referring to Trump’s allegations.
Also, the CM chaired a meeting to review progress on different ongoing development programmes.
The CM told the meeting that public welfare projects initiated by the Punjab government are the example of its own with regard to transparency and quality. He said the Punjab government had implemented the policy of composite development during the last more than four years and resources worth billions of rupees had been spent on the development of less-developed and far-flung areas. Punjab government is expediting the journey of public service so that everyone could equally benefit from the development agenda, he added. He said that a new example has been set by ensuring savings of billions of rupees in the projects and added that timely completion of development schemes is the part of our priorities. The work should be continued with full vigor and hard work to achieve the development targets, he added.
(The Nation)
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