Work on the long-delayed Safe City project in Peshawar has officially begun, 18 years after it was first proposed.
The project was first resumed after a formal agreement was signed earlier this year between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC). Now the project has started to be implemented in action as well.
Under the first phase of the project, 710 high-resolution surveillance cameras will be installed at 125 locations across the city. According to officials, these cameras will be capable of storing video footage for up to 30 days. A statement issued by the project authorities, earlier in April this year, said that the initiative is scheduled for completion by October 2025 at an estimated cost of Rs 2.2 billion.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed said that the project is designed to assist in crime prevention and counter-terrorism efforts. He said that the Punjab Safe City Authority is supporting the implementation of the system in Peshawar.
The Safe City infrastructure includes artificial intelligence features, such as automatic vehicle identification and criminal recognition, linked to police databases. The system will also support e-challan services for 15 types of traffic violations and will be integrated with the city’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network and other commercial CCTV installations.
The command and control centre for the project will serve as the central monitoring point, with plans to expand surveillance coverage in the future. Officials have proposed the installation of an additional 500 cameras within one year.
The Safe City initiative was first proposed in 2008 but remained stalled due to funding and administrative delays. It is now being implemented on a government-to-government basis.
In later phases, the project is expected to expand to six southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, Tank, and Karak. These phases will require an estimated Rs 6 billion. Plans are also underway to extend Safe City systems to other urban centres, including Mardan, Kohat, Nowshera, Swat, and Abbottabad.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur said in April that the initiative aims to support law enforcement and improve governance using modern technology. He added that the protection of public life and property remains a government priority.
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