Interior Minister Naqvi sets September 30 deadline for completion of Islamabad Safe City Expansion Project

Islamabad (Web Desk): Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, along with Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, visited the Islamabad Safe City Headquarters on Friday and held a detailed meeting to assess the progress of the Safe City Expansion Project.

During the meeting, he instructed the concerned authorities to ensure that the entire initiative is brought to completion by September 30.

Officials gave the minister an update on the project, stating that 85 percent of the expansion work had already been completed.

They said the installation of the new surveillance system had reached the same level of progress, while 415 kilometres of optical fibre had been laid for the upgraded security network.

Meanwhile, development of the data centre, cyber architecture and cybersecurity infrastructure was around 80 percent complete.

Naqvi welcomed the progress achieved so far but made it clear that the remaining work should be wrapped up within the deadline set for the project.

The interior minister said the government wanted to turn Islamabad Safe City into a technologically sophisticated, smart and internationally comparable security system capable of matching similar institutions in developed countries.

He maintained that the modern surveillance setup would considerably improve public protection by expanding monitoring capabilities, strengthening surveillance mechanisms and enabling authorities to react more quickly to emergencies.

Naqvi further observed that the upgraded project would help law enforcement agencies perform more efficiently while contributing to improved security and protection for people living in the federal capital.

He also directed the officials concerned to complete the state-of-the-art Fusion Centre within three months, terming the facility an essential part of the enhanced Safe City infrastructure.

The minister additionally ordered the authorities to complete the Safe City Bill on a priority basis and submit it to the National Assembly at the earliest.

He said the legislation was needed to establish the legal foundation required for the project’s sustained operation as well as its future development and expansion.

The meeting was attended by the Federal Secretary for Interior, Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), senior Safe City representatives and other relevant officials.

The officials briefed the minister about the progress made on the expansion scheme and outlined the proposed roadmap for its next stages.