Government buildings are getting formal addresses, Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent announced on Friday.

The new system will include metal plates on all Government buildings giving the building's identification and insurance number.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, the Minister explained that it took several months in the wake of Hurricane Fabian in 2003 to catalogue and report on the damage to Government and the quangos' over 900 separately insured buildings.

"Part of the difficulty was correctly identifying and matching properties, often with no formal addresses to insurance number codes, as well as determining the relevant ministries, sections or tenants within them," Mr. DeVent said. "This lack of clear identification also delayed off-island insurance loss adjusters and surveyors from being able to agree to repair costs and authorise works."

Government has now implemented to Property Information Management System (PIMS) in an effort to fix the problem, registering buildings and giving them recorded addresses that can be found on the Government mapping system.

The metal plates fixed on the buildings will also have "Ministry of Works and Engineering and Housing" written on them, not to signify ownership by that Ministry but to ensure that questions on insurance or data can be directed to technical officers within that Ministry.