Guangzhou, capital of China's richest province of Guangdong, plans to install an additional
250,000 video cameras across the city this year to enhance public
security, local authorities said.
"The surveillance cameras will be set up in public places such
as parking lots and hotels as part of a three-billion-yuan project
to curb crimes through the use of advanced technology," said Zhang
Jieming, head of the city's Finance Bureau, in a draft budget
report to the local people's congress.
"The government will shell out 205 million yuan (US$26.3
million), and businesses and institutions where the cameras are
installed will chip in nearly 2.8 billion yuan (US$359.4 million),"
he said.
Guangzhou already has more than 90,000 surveillance cameras
around the city that not only monitor traffic flows on major roads
but also keep watch on squares, banks and shopping malls.
The city government spent five million yuan installing cameras
on major roads last year and recently announced that it would
install more than 24,000 cameras on buses by the end of this
year.
But critics say that the move may invade people's privacy.
A city of about ten million registered residents and more than
three million migrant people, Guangzhou has a high rate of
burglary, robbery and theft.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2007)