By Evance Chisiano                                                                                                   

Blantyre, April 8, Mana: Certified real estate practitioners, property valuers, surveyors, physical planers and the academia have commended the National Addressing System (NAS) being implemented by the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA), with a call for continued engagement to ensure the system improves service delivery.

The practitioners and the other players in land related issues made the comments on Monday during Real estate engagement meeting held at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre under the theme: Revatalising real estate standards with National Addressing System.

Making a presentation titled; Leveraging the National Addressing System to simplify property identification and enhance client engagement, Sam Thunde, a certified estate agent, expressed hope that the system will work to their advantage in the certified real estate agents.

"We are looking forward to seeing MACRA rolling out the National Addressing System: It will work wonders for estate agents,” Thunde said.

He therefore called on property owners and other players in the land industry to embrace the NAS wholeheartedly, saying this will help meeting the system’s objectives, thereby attaining to Malawi’s socio-economic development agenda.

MACRA piloted the NAS in Blantyre at Namiwawa, Chinyonga, Safalao in Ndirande, Makata industrial area, and Mdeka from 2018 after an amendment of Communication Act in 2016, which mandated the communication regulatory authority to implement the system.

Urban and regional planning expert, Blessings Chiepa highlighted benefits of NAS through his presentation titled: Incorporating the National Addressing System for Effective Urban Planning and Infrastructure Development.

He expressed hope that NSA will provide solution to some of the challenges Malawi’s physical planning sector faces; citing increased urbanization and informal settlement, apart from limited access to utilities.

“NAS will help the physical planning sector to make informed decision on matters related to urban physical planning. This will also improve property taxation and revenue collection,” Chiepa added.

Other presenters at the engagement meeting included, veteran property valuer., Rizwan Omar, who said almost every Malawian is connected to issues to do with land whether one is property owner or tenant.

“National Addressing System is real, important and we want to be part of it,” he said in his presentation; Enhancing property evaluation with National Addressing System

MACRA Director of Postal and E-Commerce Development, Kondwani Katchika, said the communication regulatory authority was looking forward to seeing more of engagements with stakeholders for their inputs.

He therefore commended presentations made at the meeting, saying MACRA will consolidate suggestions and recommendations made at the meeting.

According to Katchika, engagement meetings will also be held in other regions to allow more inputs from stakeholders.

Apart from the academia, students in land survey and physical planning from the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences attended the real estate engagement meeting.