Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Blacklisted Chinese company to extend “safe city” project in Guyana- Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday disclosed that blacklisted Chinese tech giant, Huawei has been contracted by the government to extend Guyana’s “Safe City” project to Regions Three and Six.
The Vice President made the disclosure while responding to questions of possible concerns by the United States that Guyana is using Huawei’s technology.
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Noting that Huawei has been operating in Guyana for a while Jagdeo said, “We are expanding the smart city programme (Safe City) to Region Six and Three, these are the most popular, so its four, three and six, these are the three most popular regions in the country, they (Huawei) are putting in the works, and they have a contract for the cameras etc”.
The “Safe City” or Smart City project is a CCTV surveillance system set up with the aim of reducing crime in the country. The project was first started by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government.
Huawei Technologies was later contracted to build a command centre, at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) at Liliendaal for over 100 security cameras strategically placed across Georgetown. The construction of the command centre was part of a US$32M National Broadband Project received from the Chinese Government in 2017 and it was completed in 2019.
Following the Coalition’s loss of power, President Irfaan Ali in 2021 had said that the “Safe City” project yielded results in fighting crime and announced plans of expanding the surveillance programme countrywide.
“…Nationally we are going to have a Safe City country programme. We are going to have the entire country connected on the CCTV cameras so that all of the country will be [under] the watch by the relevant authorities so that we can be proactive in crime fighting,” President Ali said in an address to the nation.
With Jagdeo’s disclosure on Thursday, it is quite clear that the government has already begun moving in this direction by expanding the “Safe City” initiative to the two regions.
The cost of this expansion and the source of the financing are not yet known but Huawei, according to Jagdeo is contracted to set up the infrastructure and install the cameras.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo also sought to defend his government’s decision to use blacklisted company’s technology by saying that its equipment is much cheaper than those of the western world.
“The thing is that a number of countries in the world are using Huawei’s equipment many countries in the developed world is using Huawei’s equipment….because what I gather even from the private people who are making investments now is that the equipment are significantly cheaper than equipment from western sources,” the vice-president explained.
A 2019 photo of the Safe City Command Centre built by Huawei
Former American President, Donald Trump had blacklisted the Chinese tech giant because of security concerns. It is alleged that Chinese Government is using the company to spy on the US. The country had asked all of its allies not use Huawei’s Technology. The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), in 2021 had even scaled back on the use of Huawei’s equipment because of the security concerns.
When current American President, Joe Biden took office he opted to let the company remain blacklisted. According to a 2021 Reuter’s article, Biden still saw the company as a security threat to the United States (U.S.).
Jagdeo acknowledged that if the U.S. has any concerns with Guyana using Huawei equipment, the country will have to address them.
“We will address the U.S. concerns too because we live in the western hemisphere and a lot of our business has to be done with the U.S. and almost all of our cables end up in the U.S.,” Jagdeo said.
With regard to security concerns for Guyana, Jagdeo said that it is not a threat to the country. He reasoned that Guyana has “nothing” for the U.S. or China to spy on.
“They just have to go down to Bam Bam Alley and you will get all of what happens in the government or in the Opposition,” the Vice President told reporters.
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