Who buys and controls the CCTV? Back to contents 38 Overview of existing systems Mandalay The ‘Mandalay Safe City’ project is one of the plans of the smart city initiative to reduce crimes in Mandalay: the city administration signed a MMK 1.9 billion (USD 1.02 million) contract with Huawei in November 202058 to buy AI-powered CCTVs with facial recognition capabilities.59 The second biggest city and central economic seat of Myanmar, Mandalay is also known as the royal capital of Myanmar. It has been depicted as a beacon of progress with the development of its smart city infrastructure and has also received international accolades for developments within the city.60 As part of a broader master plan, the MCDC took the lead in implementing digital technology integration in their public services.61 The project planned to install CCTVs in three out of seven neighbourhoods in Mandalay – Mahar Aung Myay, Chan Mya Thar Si, and Pyi Gyi Tagon – within 6 months. These neighbourhoods were chosen due to a higher crime tendency, reportedly claimed in the survey carried out by district police and Huawei.62 This is not particularly unique to Myanmar – researchers have found that surveillance exports from China tend to be adopted in countries with high crime rates, even if the adoption has no eventual impact on reducing crime levels.63 Cameras will be linked to the MCDC control centre.64 Based on conversations with Mandalay locals, the selection of these neighbourhoods is questionable given that these neighbourhoods had lower incomes but did not seem to have a higher crime rate relative to other neighbourhoods in Mandalay. Further to this, the crime indicators that led to the survey outcomes, as well as the survey itself, were not published. The roots of these developments extend back by at least four years. In 2018 and 2019, officials from the Mandalay Police Force and the Myanmar Chief of Police visited65 Huawei offices in China. Huawei offered to support and provide the required technology for transforming Mandalay into a smart