By Seedy Jobe
The Kanifing Municipal Council is encouraging residents to make use of the alphanumeric codes displayed on their compound gates, saying the municipality’s digital address system is designed to improve emergency response, navigation, and the collection of property rates.
Speaking on QTV’s This Morning program on Monday, Acting Director of Services and Head of the council’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) unit, Lamin F. Badjie, said the codes serve as precise digital identifiers rather than simple house numbers.
Each code, he said, is linked to a property’s geographic coordinates, enabling emergency responders—including police officers, firefighters, and ambulance personnel—to locate homes more quickly.
“These are not just numbers,” Mr. Badjie said, noting that emergency personnel are being trained to use the system for navigation.
The digital addressing platform was developed in partnership with the Ministry of Information and relies on Google Plus Codes, which are displayed on compound gates throughout the municipality. Residents can share the codes or screenshots of them with visitors, allowing destinations to be located directly, even in areas with limited internet connectivity.
Addressing concerns from residents about the combination of letters and numbers, Mr. Badjie said the format is essential because it is tied to geographic coordinate data. Replacing the codes with simpler identifiers such as “P1” or “G2,” he said, would undermine the system’s accuracy.
He added that the council is implementing a complementary street-naming initiative that will introduce sequential street numbers, making addresses easier for residents to recognize while preserving the precision of the digital coding system.
The council says the addressing platform is also strengthening municipal revenue collection.
Modou Gomez, KMC’s Rates Manager, said property rate collectors previously depended largely on property owners’ names to identify compounds, a process that often created confusion because many residents share similar names.
The council has now integrated the Google Plus Codes into its property rates database and equipped collectors with tablet computers that enable them to navigate directly to registered properties, reducing the need for manual searches.
Mr. Gomez said the system also offers practical benefits for residents, making it easier for visitors to locate homes. Someone traveling from neighboring Senegal, for example, can use a shared digital address to navigate directly to a residence in Serrekunda, he said.
Mr. Badjie added that the digital addressing platform has been integrated with the council’s compliance mapping system and property rates database, allowing officials to streamline tax collection and improve administrative efficiency.
KMC officials said the ongoing street-naming exercise is expected to complement the digital address system and make it more accessible to residents who are unfamiliar with Google Plus Codes.
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