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The City of Johannesburg is ready to launch a project to take lift its electricity network above ground so that it’s more difficult for criminals to vandalise and steal.
The city said it has secured around R9 million to aid City Power in its efforts to deal with power supply interruptions as a matter of urgency.
As part of the investment, City Power has announced plans to roll out new and improved security measures to deal with rampant cable theft and vandalism – including the removal of the underground network and replacing it with an overhead line which is more difficult to steal.
A budget of R9 million has been secured, and the project is set to commence in a couple of weeks, it said.
“A tender has already gone out and we plan to deploy the new security plan, which includes technology, by April,” it said.
Part of the short-term interventions the entity plans to rollout will also include clearing the shrubs where City Power cables run for increased visibility and revamp of streetlights, most of which have been vandalised.
The city said that the current state of network difficulties faced by City Power – including the increased load shedding volumes – makes the underground power copper cables, prone to theft as criminals can easily hide in the bushes.
“We didn’t build our infrastructure for load shedding. So every time we have load-shedding, parts of our network are damaged. Criminals also take advantage of load shedding to steal and damage infrastructure which is key in delivering power supply,” the city said.
Big brother is watching
The city is also partnering with VumaCam, an outdoor security camera provider, to enhance its Integrated Intelligence Operations Centre (IIOC).
The city has signed a two-year memorandum of understanding with he group, which will see VumaCam cameras connected to the IIOC.
The VumaCam cameras offer high-quality video and are weather resistant, mounted on walls or polls and managed via a solid fibre network.
The city said that VumaCam’s motion detection, night vision, two-way communication and cloud storage would be able to detect suspicious activities, help with investigations, and monitor by-law infringements.
In addition, it said that the cameras would allow law enforcement to monitor humans actively remotely, improve traffic flow management, emergency response times, and the general deployment of municipal resources.
“We hope to leverage this cutting-edge technology that is highly effective and provides a well-maintained and regulated network to augment the City’s law enforcement and crime prevention strategies,” Public Safety Head of Department Tebego Modiba said.
The city said that the cameras would also help mitigate crime against municipal assets, with incidents of vandalism of city infrastructure increasing.
The system architecture also allows for video analytics, including license plate recognition, and the footage is viewable on smartphones, allowing residents and law enforcement to share information in real time.
Modiba added that the cameras would also make it easier to find areas that need service delivery, such as traffic lights that need repairing.
Although the Public Safety Department operates numerous cameras in the inner city, it was looking for better ways to manage its current systems.