Kiambu County Director of Land Survey and Geo-Informatics Zaverico Kinyua (centre) addressing journalists after a stakeholders engagement workshop at a Thika hotel. [Photo:Facebook]Towns of Kiambu and Thika are in the process of implementing a physical address system that will make it possible for anyone to easily identify the location of a plot or a dwelling on the ground.The system will entail ‘assigning an address’ using a system of maps and signs that will give the numbers or names of streets and buildings, making the towns more ‘user-friendly’ and enable people to get around the the two towns easily, according to Thika Today.This emerged from a stakeholder’s engagement workshop at a Thika hotel facilitated by both the national and county governments on Thursday.Speaking at the workshop, Kiambu County Director of Land Survey and Geo-Informatics Zaverico Kinyua said that explosion of people into urban settlement had presented challenges in the identification of locations because more than 50% of the towns’ streets had no names or addresses.“Houses need a distinctive marker that is easily recognisable through a system which defines their address. This can be done using the street number of the house on the street and the city or town it is in,” Kinyua said as quoted by Thika Today.He noted that at the moment there existed no system of street coordinates or baseline information to help one find their way around a constantly growing town.“How do you dispatch ambulances, firemen, and law enforcement personnel quickly? How do you locate urban facilities and infrastructure? How do you pinpoint breakdowns in water, electricity and telephone systems? As we talk now, it is very hard for emergency service providers to respond to distress calls in some areas due to lack of a distinct identification system,” he added.Reacting to this new development, Thika District Business Association (TDBA) Chairman Alfred Wanyoike welcomed the initiative which he said will go a long way in boosting business. He called upon the government to hasten its implementation.

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