Reply: I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that a contract was signed between the Mauritius Police Force and Mauritius Telecom on 19 December 2017, for a value of USD 466 m. (around Rs21 billion for the implementation of the Safe City Project which would be operating on a lease basis over a period of 20 years. In regard to part (a) of the question, the Safe City Project comprises the following components – (a) 4000 Intelligent Video Surveillance cameras; (b) 300 Intelligent Traffic Surveillance cameras; (c) 9 Convergent Command and Control Centres; (d) an Emergency Response Management System, and (e) a Radio Communication System. Regarding parts (a) (i) & (ii) of the question, I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that, out of a total of 4,000 Intelligent Video Surveillance cameras, 3,992 have been installed as at 12 December 2024. The remaining eight cameras have not yet been installed. I am further informed that out of the 3,992 Intelligent Video Surveillance cameras installed, 3,953 are operational. The remaining 39 are presently non-operational, due to acts of vandalism, awaiting fibre and electrical connection, and relocation in view of road works. With regard to the 300 Intelligent Traffic Surveillance Cameras, 157 have already been installed and are operational, whilst the remaining 143 cameras have not yet been installed. The delay is due to the fact that the contractor has not installed the total required number of poles which was specified in the contract.

147 With regard to part (b) of the question, I am informed by the Commissioner of Police that the payment is effected on a yearly basis. As at date, an amount of USD 85,124,952.46 has already been paid to Mauritius Telecom. It is clear that the utilisation of the system, especially in the detection of crime and ensuring public security and safety was well below expectations. In fact, very often the safe city cameras were being used to track the movement of political opponents and spy on the Mauritian citizens. I would like to bring to the attention of the House of the extremely high cost of the Safe City project which started in 2017 and has not yet been completed. Some serious crimes have not been captured on the Safe City cameras. The operation of these cameras has to be completely reviewed, so as to help the authorities in tackling, inter alia, the crime problem, traffic accidents and the drug scourge. The House would also recall how in the process to elucidate certain atrocious crimes, safe city cameras in specific areas were conveniently found defective and inoperative. I am thus proposing that an independent assessment of the Safe City project be conducted in order to ensure first and foremost, the safety and security of the Mauritians and the prompt elucidation of crimes. LATE MR S. K. – ALLEGED MURDER CASE – INQUIRY