Round-the-clock watch: Lahore airport gets new security system

Control room hooked up to Pakistan Army, security agencies

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif launched the country’s first integrated security system at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Monday.

Maj-Gen Sohail Ahmed, director-general of the Airport Security Force, briefed the premier about the system and said that it would help ensure better security of the premises, the aircraft and the passengers.

It took the National Engineering and Scientific Commission of Pakistan (NESCOM) four months to build the Rs400 million high-tech control room at one-sixth of the cost of an imported security system, the DG added.



He said the control room would operate round-the-clock to monitor any suspicious activity or movement and alert the airport authorities. “The system is capable of monitoring the area within a radius of one-kilometre in pitch-darkness.”

The control room has been hooked up to the Pakistan Army and the security agencies. One hundred and forty-four cameras installed across the airport, with 350 LED lamps for better results, would transmit images to 17 monitoring screens in the control room.

DG Ahmed said the system had been on test run since February 24. “It is the first airport security system to be produced indigenously. This system is also being used in China.”

Appreciating the quality of the security system, PM Nawaz said the expansion of the Lahore airport should be done in a meaningful manner, keeping in view the expected increase in the number of passengers and air traffic in the next 10-15 years.

He termed the infrastructure an asset for the country and said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would impact all national sectors and generate economic activity.

Capt (retd) Shujaat Azeem, the premier’s adviser on aviation, also briefed Nawaz on the measures taken for improving the facilities for the passengers.

Azeem said that since last January, 14 new aircraft had been added to the fleet of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and nine more would be included by the year-end. “This is the first time that the PIA has inducted such a large number of planes in such a short period of time.” The projected fleet size by year-end is 44, with an average fleet age of nine years, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2015.