Absence of national framework for naming streets has affected e-commerce uptake, says CA

Absence of a national framework for naming streets and numbering of properties has affected e-commerce uptake in the country.

According to an Article by Business Daily, this was said by The Authority’s assistant director, Martin Ngesa.

He added that lack of a national framework to guide naming of streets and numbering of properties had also affected the movement and business in counties.

However, Ngesa said that the confusion of having streets with similar names in different cities could be solved if its proposals for a universal National Addressing System (NAS) are adopted.

A national addressing system (NAS) is a framework that provides for, among others, the naming/numbering of streets and/properties and coding to facilitate easy identification and location of such places on the ground.

It also involves the development of digitized maps for use in the management of settlements and urban communities. This is the latest attempt by the government to find a solution to  the national addressing and numbering systems and unlock the potential it has on e-commerce.

In addition, Mr. Ngesa said that the authority had formed a secretariat to streamline the sector and has already presented a draft policy to counties for review. Naming and numbering of streets guidelines haven’t been developed elsewhere in the country to recognised international standards, except Nairobi to some extent.

“Under the draft proposals, names with similar pronunciations but different spelling shall be avoided. The draft seeks to make far reaching changes in the way streets are named. Street names chosen should promote community image and drawn from local history, culture, traditions and landmarks, Mr Ngesa said.

In 2016, CA started a process to have a nation-wide numbering and addressing system to boost the uptake of e-commerce and improve service delivery.

The establishment of the numbering and addressing system was be done through a public-private partnership in a move aimed at aligning the process with the Constitution.

Schedule 4 of the Constitution gives the mandate of physical planning to counties, a requirement that  forced CA to seek collaboration with the devolved governments to ensure that county numbering and address system conforms with the national one.