POSTAL authorities have collected residential address data for 12.3m households nationwide.

Nicholaus Mkapa, the Information, Communication, and Information Technology deputy permanent secretary, made this affirmation here yesterday at the opening of a residential address verification exercise for Arusha Region.

“So far, through the residential address operation, we have collected data for upwards of 12.3m households across the country,” he said, noting that the exercise is based on the National Postal Policy of 2003.

It also related to regional and international agreements of the African and World Postal Union organisations to which Tanzania is a member, and stipulated in the 2020/2025 CCM election manifesto, he stated.

The government has prepared a strategy to verify data in all districts, with the intent to build capacity of executives, council chairmen, alongside ward and street officials to conduct the exercise.

So far 31 local authorities have been covered, 19 on the Mainland and 11 in Zanzibar, where over 2.3m address records were updated, registering over 500,000 new addresses and training 6,621 exercise conductors, he specified.

Even with these achievements, the government plans to purchase 3,422 tablets for local officials this financial year, crucial for their being able to perform their primary duties. These include registering new addresses, updating information and issuing identification letters through the system, he said.

David Lyamongi, the acting regional administrative secretary, stated that participants in the meeting included street chairmen, ward executives, district officials and municipal council department heads.

Officials will undergo two days of training and ten days of fieldwork for the data verification exercise covering the city council, Longido, Monduli, Karatu and Ngorongoro districts.

The RAS praised ministerial work in effectively managing this process and visiting the region to conduct verification in six local authorities at once.

Mulembwa Munaku, the ministry’s director of communications, said that the operation is intended to ensure that every citizen is identifiable where services are to be delivered, whether at their residence, office, or trading spot.

Through this operation, Arusha Region has been able to collect information and provide a total of 442,912 residential addresses, he added.