Arusha, which happens to be the pilot city for Tanzania's postcodes project, is still lagging behind in posting street addresses and logging house numbers.

"Four years after the country embarked on the project of establishing postcodes for starters in Arusha, the city has just managed to name streets in only seven wards out of the current 19," said Mr Jowika Kasunga the Monduli District Commissioner.

Mr Kasunga was speaking at a special occasion to mark ten years of the operations of Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) in Arusha, where he graced the event on behalf of the Regional Commissioner, Mr Magessa Mulongo.

The postcodes project was launched in Arusha in February 2010 and was supposed to issue street codes to 14 wards but until next February 2014 only about 50 per cent of the work will have been accomplished.

And with only about 35 per cent of the entire city which is officially surveyed, the project to come up with coding streets and building should also be nothing short of a miracle as squatter settlements continue to mushroom.

In his statement, the Arusha Regional Commissioner instructed the city authorities to speed up the process because as it seems, the TCRA has accomplished its part and now it only remains for local officials to move things forward.

With a population of 500,000 residents, Arusha City is an island surrounded by the vast Meru and Arusha Rural districts. These stifle the geographical expansion of the urban precinct. Arusha is also the pilot project for the World Bank funded sustainable cities programme in Tanzania.

The Northern Zone's TCRA Manager, Eng. Annette Mahimbo, said the authority has managed to lay out blue print for the post codes mapping and it was up to local authorities to come up with street names and house identification.

"Postcodes will help improve delivery of mail and goods and also speed up rescue services as well as making it easier for people to find directions to envisaged destination," said Eng. Mahimbo.