The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has finally embarked on the process of numbering streets, buildings and homes to make door-to-door delivery of letters as well as goods from online retailers like Jumia a simpler task.

This past Wednesday, the regulator started the search for a consultant to review the draft National Addressing System (NAS), which will pave the way for the fresh numbering of addresses. The consultant will be expected to guide the listing of streets, buildings, and homes through a pilot targeted at Mount Kenya, Lake, and Coastal regions.

CA says, “This will not only facilitate implementation of the addressing system but will ultimately contribute to national development efforts since it will facilitate better service delivery to people and business.”

In 2016, Universal Postal Union, which was offering technical assistance to CA, said in a preliminary report that CA would require $28 million (Sh2.8 billion) to implement the project.

The project had been initialized but had been on a long hiatus since 2008, will see all streets, roads, highways, residential and commercial residences digitally marked in digital maps, and indexed to facilitate easy identification and location of premises.

It will also remove the hurdle of locating buyers for the many retailers turn to social media to sell. The absence of detailed street and building addresses has left many online businesses unable to get clear and precise locations of customers, opting to concentrate operations on major towns.