The City of Johannesburg is ready to launch a project to lift its electricity network above ground, making it more difficult for criminals to vandalise and steal.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/strong><\/p>\n A budget of R9 million has been secured, and the project is set to commence in a couple of weeks, it said.<\/p>\n “A tender has already gone out and we plan to deploy the new security plan, which includes technology, by April,” it said.<\/p>\n Part of the short-term interventions the entity plans to rollout will also include clearing the shrubs where City Power cables run<\/strong> for increased visibility and revamp of streetlights, most of which have been vandalised.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t 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,\u201d the city said.<\/p>\n Big brother is watching<\/strong><\/p>\n The city is also partnering with VumaCam, an outdoor security camera provider, to enhance its Integrated Intelligence Operations Centre (IIOC).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The city has signed a two-year memorandum of understanding with he group, which will see VumaCam cameras connected to the IIOC.<\/p>\n The VumaCam cameras offer high-quality video and are weather resistant, mounted on walls or polls and managed via a solid fibre network.<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “We hope to leverage this cutting-edge technology that is highly effective and provides a well-maintained and regulated network to augment the City\u2019s law enforcement and crime prevention strategies,” Public Safety Head of Department Tebego Modiba said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The city said that the cameras would also help mitigate crime against municipal assets, with incidents of vandalism of city infrastructure increasing.<\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Modiba added that the cameras would also make it easier to find areas that need service delivery, such as traffic lights that need repairing.<\/p>\n