Cash-strapped Postal Corporation of Kenya has opened up 79,626 square feet of office space for lease to draw revenue from idle assets.
The State agency has identified space in 13 branch offices across Nairobi, Kiambu, Kwale, Mombasa, Tana River, Lamu, and Machakos counties.
“The lease will be in effect for 63 months, with the possibility of an extension if both sides agree,” Posta said in a tender call for firms and individuals seeking office space.
Posta’s Mokowe post office in Lamu County has the largest space available for lease at 35,000 square feet.
Others with sizeable space are the Kwale Post Office (24,000), Hola Post Office (10,000), Machakos Post Office (2,637), Kiambu (782), and Nairobi City Square (400).
The tender for office space leases comes a week after the PCK increased the annual subscription rates for its MPost virtual address service in a bid to tackle high operation costs and save some revenue.
It raised subscription charges on Mpost-a service that turns mobile phones into formal postal addresses-by up to 23 times effective July 5 in response to high operating costs.
In the new charges approved by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), corporates subscribed to the service that was launched in in Kenya in 2016 will now pay an annual fee of Sh9,450, up from Sh400 while individual subscribers will pay Sh2,000 up from Sh400.
MPost is also considering moving its headquarters from Nairobi to Kigali in Rwanda, citing a more favourable business environment for tech start-ups. The service is currently available in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi with plans to launch it in the Central Africa Republic and Congo Brazzaville.
MPost app allows customers to acquire a virtual postal address, renew their subscription, and request for delivery of items from the post office.
In addition, Posta in December 2023 declared all senior management positions redundant in a bid to cut costs amid falling revenues, to reduce the wage bill from 82 percent to 50 percent.
The company has previously reduced its workforce due to increased competition and the expansion of digital communications.
