KUCHING: Twenty areas under the jurisdiction of Kuching South City Council (MBKS) will be installed with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
The CCTV cameras would be installed in phases and be operational next year.
“We applied for the funds for these CCTVs from the federal Ministry of Local Government four years ago and finally we got it,” Kuching South Mayor Datuk James Chan told a press conference yesterday.
“The installation of CCTVs will help our enforcement people to do their work and ensure that the streets in the city are safe.”
Chan said despite the killing of two British students here on Wednesday, Kuching is still a safe city.
“I saw the tourist couples who were interviewed by a local English newspaper at our Kuching Food Fair Festival 2014 and other foreigners. That shows that Kuching city is normal and the incident could happen anywhere,” he said.
Chan also sent his condolences to the victims’ families and voiced his sympathies.
“In fact, we had pocket out our own council’s money to ensure that public places are safe and we had installed CCTVs at three public places that are
frequented by the public and they are the Stutong Market, Petanak and Kenyalang Market,” he said.
He urged the public not to point fingers but to work together to make Kuching a vibrant, clean, beautiful and safe city.
“These are the preventive measure to help our public from being victims and we continue to beef up the city through awareness and educational programmes through community service programmes to ensure that we fight against crime,” he added.
The MBKS areas to be installed with CCTVs are Kenyalang Park; Premier 101; Everrise BDC; Wisma Wan Tabuan Jaya; Kedai Ai Lee Tabuan Jaya; AmBank Setia Raja; Kuching Specialist Hospital; Public Bank Stutong; Giant Stutong (Jalan Canna); Chong Lin Park; Jalan Ban Hock; Jalan Song Thian Cheok-Jalan Song Kheng Hai; Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman; Jalan Padungan; Jalan Abell; Jalan Petanak; Mile 4 (Everrise and Boulevard); Mile 3 (Central Park Commercial Centre, Mile 3 Old Bazaar and Rock Road); as well as Yoshi Square at Jalan Pelabuhan.