By Jones Gadama
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) is continuing its engagement with real estate practitioners on the National Addressing System (NAS), a project aimed at assigning physical addresses to every property in the country.
This initiative seeks to identify persons by street and state of residence, promoting national development, security, and easy location identification.
MACRA’s Director of Postal and E-commerce Services, Kondwani Kachika, emphasized that the NAS is crucial for the country’s development, saying it will play a significant role in promoting national development, security, and easy location identification.
Real estate practitioners have welcomed the project, believing it will help address challenges they face in their business.
Prince Matchika, a certified real estate practitioner, stated that the NAS is a welcome initiative that will help solve problems they face in their business.
“This is a welcome initiative that will help us solve problems we face in our business,” Matchika said, expressing optimism that the NAS will improve their operations and efficiency.
The NAS project includes developing a national postcode system, national addressing standards, an address database, physical infrastructure, and integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) components.
These components will facilitate efficient mail delivery, ensure consistency and accuracy in addressing, and provide spatial data and mapping capabilities.
The NAS is expected to have numerous benefits for Malawi, including increased revenue collection, effective emergency response, verifiable proof of residence, disease control, e-commerce and trade, and private sector growth.
By providing citizens with verifiable proof of residence, the system will reduce disputes and improve security.
The NAS will also enable effective identification and control of disease outbreaks and facilitate domestic and cross-border trade.
MACRA’s engagement with real estate practitioners is a significant step towards ensuring the success of the NAS project.
By working together with stakeholders, MACRA can ensure that the system meets the needs of all users and contributes to the country’s development.
Other stakeholders, including property valuers, surveyors, physical planners, and academia, have also commended the NAS, calling for continued engagement to ensure the system improves service delivery.
With the NAS, Malawi is poised to experience significant improvements in various sectors, including security, commerce, and governance.
The project, which began in 2016, has already completed a pilot phase in Blantyre and is being rolled out to other cities.
MACRA plans to make the project legally binding to ensure everyone embraces its benefits.
