The Kenya Kwanza Administration is on course to give Kenya its first National Addressing System, this is according to ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo who notes the system was a critical component of the digital economy.
Speaking on Friday while unveiling the Ministry of IT scorecard after a year in office, CS Owalo said the system will ensure Kenyans receive goods and services wherever they are and that his ministry has already drafted a policy and bill on the same.
”A detailed national addressing system is of the essence. A draft Policy and Bill on the National Addressing System has been developed. Stakeholder engagement was undertaken, and comments were incorporated,” CS Owalo said at Serena Hotel adding, validation by stakeholders is pending before submission to Cabinet for consideration and approval.
As part of this agenda, the Nairobi cadastral (mapping) is complete and the national government has mapped out 241 blocks across the city. The National Addressing System will deploy these blocks to facilitate e-Commerce in the City of Nairobi.
”The same will be gradually taken to the rest of the country,” Owalo said.
The new system, if successfully implemented, will enable Kenyans easily identify buildings and locations because they will be assigning names to streets and numbering properties on them. The addresses will include a numerical property identifier consisting of the property number and the street name.
Following Kigali in Rwanda, Nairobi is currently the second city in East Africa to implement a physical address system.
