As many as 200,000 surveillance cameras will be installed in Shenzhen's key public areas by the end of next year, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Wednesday, citing a government official.

The setting up of these cameras had commenced in the city from Sept. 1 to prevent terrorist attacks and criminal acts, as well as to easily collect evidence in the future, said Sun Biao, vice secretary of the politics and law commission of the municipal committee of the CPC.

For the sake of security, the surveillance network will cover the whole city, including subways, buses, main thoroughfares, public areas, outlets of ports, airports, power plants, water factories and residential areas. Sun said they would try to finish 80 percent of the work by the end of the year.

Citing the example of the London underground blast, Sun said, "there are more than 500,000 closed circuit TV cameras installed in London, which played a key role in investigating the recent terrorist attack." Since cameras were installed in certain buses as well as a few populous areas like Huaqiangbei, the rate of theft and robbery there had decreased, Sun added.

(China Daily October 14, 2005)