GEORGE TOWN, Feb 7 — The Penang government admitted today that the local council spent nearly RM47.78 million on the installation of 718 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras across the island since 2013 — which works out to RM66,500 per unit.

However, Penang state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow said the overall cost of RM47.78 million did not merely cover the price of the CCTV equipment but also the supporting systems, management and maintenance.

“It is futile to compare just by looking at the unit price of the CCTV camera as we are talking about a smart surveillance system using CCTV cameras installed around the city,” he said in a statement.

He said the contract for the smart system was not only to install CCTV cameras but also included the costs for site mapping, underground mapping, CCTV posts, lighting, earth system, electricity cable and board.

There was also the cost of the CCTV equipment such as the cameras, public announcement system and wireless network system.

“The latest phase also included the upgrading works of the control room at Komtar but also four other control rooms located at various police headquarters and a police station in Batu Ferringhi,” he said.

He explained the costs covered the provision of a video management system, video recording system, control centre operation system and network infrastructure from control room to wireless base station.

“The contract sum also included five years of maintenance of all the site equipment and the control rooms,” he said.

Chow was responding to criticisms by Komtar MCA Task Force chief Tan Hing Teik who accused Penang Island City Council (MBPP) of installing CCTV cameras at “sky rocket high” prices.

Tan claimed that the average cost per CCTV camera, including wires and labour, was about RM600 but MBPP had spent RM12.8 million for 216 CCTV cameras which comes up to RM59,259 per CCTV camera.

Chow reminded Tan that MBPP awarded the contract for the CCTV installation through open tenders.

“If there is any company that can fulfil all the requirements with very competitive pricing, they can submit their bids for the next tender of another 150 CCTV cameras for this year,” he said.

He also pointed out that the Local Government Ministry had installed 32 CCTV cameras at a cost of RM5.049 million in Penang back in 2015.

“This would make the unit price of each camera RM157,800,” he said.

He asked the ministry to explain why the costs of installing the CCTV cameras in Penang was so much higher than those implemented by MBPP.