Hiiraan Online
By Shafi’i Mohyaddin
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia soon is going to have names on its streets as well as numbers on the doors of its houses, for the first time in the history of the country. Similar plan is also expected to be implemented in the major towns of the country.
Mayor of the Somali capital Mogadishu, Mahmoud Ahmed Nur, popularly known as ‘Tarsan’ on Sunday inaugurated the program named ‘House numbering and post code system’ a project that attracted warm welcome from the capital’s inhabitants. The inhabitants of the capital welcomed the initiative.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, the Mayor said that this is an important step not only for the modernization of the postal service in the capital, but also for the security of the people and the capital, adding, “the registration of the properties in the capital has been already started.” The Mayor asked the people of Mogadishu to give their full cooperation to the project.
Present at the ceremony were all 17 District Commissioners in the capital, the Chairman of Somali Chamber of Commerce, Mohamoud Abdikarim Gabeyre, Members of Parliament, representatives from Women Organiation as well as the elders of Mogadishu.
Photos: Farhan Suleymaan Maaskaro, Radio Mogadishu
The Chief of the project, Issa Mohamed Halane, said at the ceremony that the project is sponsored jointly by the Benadir Regional Administration and Somali Business Communities. He did not mention the starting date of the project.
The capital of Somalia is estimated to have a population of nearly three million inhabitants. It has thousands of dusty Narrow Street, but few have their names engraved on the walls. Some of them bear names given by the Italians like Viale Somalia, Via Cardinale Massaia, Via Roma and some named by the Military Administration such as Via Libera, Via Tanzania, Via Makka al Mukarama, Via Moscow, Via Egypt, Via General Daud, Via Mohamud Harbi etc.
The Mayor told the gathering that some names of the streets will be change with new name. He said, for stance, the street known as Via “Heart” will be replaced by Istanbul Street. During the dictatorial Regime, very few government buildings housing officials and civil servants had numbers.
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