Lahore safe city project has been plagued with various technical issues since its inception, mostly due to surveillance camera malfunction.
A recent report highlights a number of problems with the Rs. 12 billion monitoring system, including facial recognition, license plate recognition, traffic control, and police notifications.
Almost 35% of the cameras are not fully functional, leaving certain key thoroughfares and public avenues unmonitored. 2,500 of the 7,678 cameras throughout Lahore are inoperable, while almost 1,000 facial recognition cameras are malfunctioning.
Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) says that facial recognition equipment is crucial to the safe city initiative. The surveillance system allows for number-plate tracking, traffic control, and aids in proper law enforcement and crime mitigation.
The report also notes malfunctions with the Variable Messaging System (VMS) — a platform linked to the Police Traffic Management System (PTMS) and deployed as part of the safe city project. Local partner Business Efficiency Solutions (BES) is suing Huawei over allegations of stolen technology and creating backdoors for data access.
CEO PSCA Kamran Khan has blamed the contractor for not honoring the contractual obligations. However, an official privy to the matter stated that PSCA has made temporary arrangements to monitor the city.
Initially, the department was to install 8,000 facial recognition cameras initially with plans to cover 137,000 locations throughout the city later on. However, it stopped short due to unknown reasons.
Nonetheless, the safe city project failure has placed the PSCA and all responsible parties under severe PR backlash.
