Mr Seidu Abukari, Tolon District Chief Executive (DCE), in the Northern Region on Wednesday advised community members to participate in the Street Naming and Property Addressing Programme (SNPA) in the area.

He said the SNPA, is a government policy, which would be implemented within 18 months to address assembly difficulties in collecting reliable data for development purposes. Mr Abukari gave the advice during an awareness creation workshop organised for the Tolon community members to help them understand the SNPA.

He said there is poor housing and property development in the country due to improper use of land and blamed it on ineffective land management principles put in place. Mr Abukari gave the assurance that the programme would ensure national development especially at the district level.

He called on members of the Tolon communities to accept and maintain the SNPA system when it is established. Mr Pamphilio Nielakuu, Regional Director of the Town and Country Planning, stated that the exercise is to identify the location of plots or landed properties, by assigning address using a system of maps that give the numbers and names of streets and buildings.

Mr Nielakuu said the SNPA exercise would assist in the delivery of health, fire and security services especially in times of emergencies. He said it would also provide an addressing platform to facilitate other government initiatives such as National Identification exercise as well as National Population census.