The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) said it is nearly finished setting up a transport network needed to support the government’s closed circuit television (CCTV) network.
The statement from BTC was in response to a statement made recently by Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage, who indicated that BTC was primarily to blame for the delay in an island-wide CCTV launch.
The CCTV program will allow the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) to monitor surveillance footage from cameras set up at various public spaces in New Providence.
Antonio Stubbs, BTC’s senior vice president of technical services, said more than 200 cameras are presently installed and running, but require additional optimization.
“We have expanded our fiber optic network and built out the dedicated wireless infrastructure as a transport network to support the CCTV system,” Stubbs said.
“We will complete the remainder of the sites once the power source has been connected.” BTC said it will spend more than $2 million to create the network.
It said it was contracted by the government in January to design and install the necessary infrastructure for CCTV to monitor public places selected by the police force.
The program will include 243 cameras around New Providence during its initial phase.
Nottage said the government was “let down” by BTC.
“BTC, they have really held us up,” Nottage told The Nassau Guardian.
“They have been somewhat tardy in what they have to do to get it up in time. But it’s part of their reality. Certainly in this particular instance, we have felt let down by them.”
The program was started under the Ingraham administration.
The government signed a $4.6 million contract in April 2012 with Lowe’s Security Limited, its U.S.-based partner Avrio RMS Group and Cayman Islands-based firm Security Centers International for the first phase of the CCTV project.
Nottage revealed in March that the government had to spend an additional $1 million to finance the program.
Taneka Thompson
The Nassau Guardian
