Wapda and SCO sign Rs14.06bn deals for Dasu, Chilas Safe City
The agreements cover two separate schemes, one at Dasu in Upper Kohistan and one at Chilas in Diamer district, but the split between them was not disclosed.
The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the Special Communications Organization (SCO) have signed agreements worth Rs14.06 billion for two Safe City projects, one at Dasu and one at Chilas, according to Profit by Pakistan Today.
UrduPoint carried the same announcement with the same figure, describing the agreements as being for the "Dasu and Chilas Safe City projects". Neither report set out how the Rs14.06bn is divided between the two schemes.
Dasu is in Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Wapda is building the Dasu hydropower project on the Indus. Chilas is the main town of Diamer district in Gilgit-Baltistan and sits on the Karakoram Highway.
The reports did not describe the scope of work at either site, the timelines for construction, or the obligations each side has taken on. No statement from a named Wapda or SCO official was included in the accounts available, and neither organisation's figure for the cost of either individual scheme was published.
Safe City schemes in Pakistan generally consist of camera networks and monitoring rooms run by police and district administrations. The federal Safe City Islamabad project has been followed by announcements of similar programmes in several cities and districts in recent years.
Wapda is the state body responsible for water and hydropower development, including the projects it is building in Kohistan and elsewhere in the Indus basin. SCO is a state-owned communications operator that has taken on communications and surveillance work in Gilgit-Baltistan and other regions.
The agreements were reported on 24 October 2026. Details of when work is to begin at either Dasu or Chilas, and how the two projects will be run once built, were not reported.
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