Eldoret Embraces Digital Street Addressing in Smart City Drive
Busienei said digital street addressing was part of broader efforts by the city administration to embrace technology and modernise the management of Eldoret.
Photo: Courtesy.
By James Gitaka
Eldoret City has stepped up efforts to modernise urban management through a digital street addressing system designed to improve navigation, service delivery, emergency response and revenue administration.
Eldoret City Manager Elzeba Busienei on Friday supervised the ongoing implementation of the digital addressing exercise, describing it as an important step towards transforming the city into a smart and technology-driven urban centre.
The system will assign standardised and easily identifiable locations to streets, buildings, businesses and other properties across the city.Busienei said the initiative would address challenges associated with identifying properties and locating specific buildings, while creating a reliable system that can be used by residents, businesses, government agencies and service providers.
“Our interest has been to make this City a smart urban with clear and efficient logistical and positioning systems,” Busienei said.
The digital addressing system is expected to have applications beyond helping residents and visitors find locations.It will support emergency response teams in locating buildings, assist delivery companies in finding customers, and provide useful data for urban planning, property management and efficient delivery of public services.
The system also incorporates QR codes installed on buildings, allowing specific locations to be linked to geographical coordinates and global positioning information.According to Busienei, the technology will improve communication and coordination by giving buildings and other facilities precise digital identities.
This is expected to be particularly useful during emergencies, where accurate location information can help responders reach affected residents and properties more quickly.
The digital addresses will also provide the city administration with more reliable location-based information for planning and decision-making.
As Eldoret continues to expand, the availability of accurate data on buildings, businesses and properties is expected to help authorities better understand the city’s development patterns and plan infrastructure and services accordingly.
The initiative is also expected to strengthen business identification and revenue administration.With properties and businesses accurately mapped, the city administration will have a better basis for revenue mapping and identifying enterprises operating within different parts of Eldoret.
The move could also improve coordination between the county government, businesses, residents and other institutions that depend on accurate location information to provide services.
Busienei said digital street addressing was part of broader efforts by the city administration to embrace technology and modernise the management of Eldoret.
The initiative comes as Eldoret continues to grow as an important urban and commercial centre in the North Rift, increasing the need for modern systems capable of managing a rapidly expanding population and built environment.
Rather than simply assigning names or numbers to streets and buildings, the digital system is intended to create an interconnected location database that can support several aspects of urban management.
The City Manager also urged landlords and property owners to paint their buildings as part of efforts to improve the city’s appearance.She noted that a waiver on painting requirements is currently in place, with the pardon running until November.
The administration is encouraging property owners to use the period to improve the appearance of their buildings and contribute to the overall beautification of the city.
The digital addressing programme, together with efforts to improve the physical appearance of buildings, forms part of the city’s broader transformation agenda.
For Eldoret residents and businesses, the successful implementation of the system could make it easier to access services, receive deliveries, report emergencies and identify properties.
For city authorities, it is expected to provide better data for planning, revenue collection and management of the expanding urban area.
The initiative therefore marks another step towards Eldoret’s ambition of becoming a smarter, more connected and efficiently managed city.
About Author
