Kenya moves towards digital addressing system with new Bill

Kenya could soon have a fully operational digital system for naming and numbering streets, homes, and buildings if Parliament approves a new Bill seeking to establish a National Addressing Council to manage the long-stalled project.

Kiambu MP John Machua has introduced the proposed law in the National Assembly, which outlines the creation of a dedicated council to coordinate national efforts in setting up a formal addressing system across the country.

The plan, first conceived in 2008, is expected to improve service delivery and support e-commerce by providing a reliable way to locate and identify properties.

According to the Bill, the National Addressing Council will be tasked with enforcing national standards on addressing, encouraging the use of technology such as digital mapping, and working closely with counties to implement the system.

Each county will be required to form its own addressing committee to feed data into the national structure and support the council’s efforts.

The draft law proposes a council made up of a non-executive chairperson chosen by the President, a vice-chairperson nominated by the Council of Governors, and principal secretaries from the ministries responsible for national addressing, finance, and land and physical planning.

Other members will include the chairperson of the Kenya Consumers Protection Advisory Committee, two private individuals appointed by the ICT Cabinet Secretary based on their knowledge in ICT, planning, addressing, or legal matters, and a registrar who will serve as the council’s secretary.

Members of the council, including the chairperson, will serve a three-year term, renewable once.

“The enactment of the proposed legislation will ensure seamless naming and numbering of streets and properties, which will lead to improved identification and location of places, which will subsequently improve the country’s economy in terms of trade and revenue generation,” it reads.

Once fully implemented, the National Addressing System (NAS) will involve the digital marking and indexing of all highways, roads, and buildings, residential and commercial, to simplify navigation and property identification.

The system is expected to benefit organisations such as the Postal Corporation of Kenya and digital shopping platforms by enabling them to deliver goods more efficiently using digital maps.

Initial steps to launch the project were taken between 2008 and 2010, when the government formed an inter-ministerial team to test the concept in Nairobi.

In 2016, the Communications Authority of Kenya, which is legally tasked with setting communication and addressing standards, began work on a draft NAS framework.

At the time, the Universal Postal Union, which supported the initiative technically, estimated in a report that the Communications Authority would need $28 million (Sh3.6 billion) to fully roll out the system.

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