Billboard permit rules: Easy money for officials<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The complicated process for obtaining permits for advertising
\nbillboards or outdoor advertisement has been used by certain
\nofficials of the city administration as a source of illegal
\nlevies from the applicants, businessmen said.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Outdoor Media Association (AMLI) said that to
\nobtain one permit for one advertising billboard, an outdoor media
\ncompany has to wait around five months as its application has to
\ngo through many agencies of the administration.<\/p>\n
AMLI deputy chairman Gunadi Soekemi told a press conference on
\nTuesday that the long process in obtaining the permits had
\ndiscouraged many companies to advertise their products through
\nbillboards. He said that many companies instead used other kinds
\nof advertisement.<\/p>\n
According to Gunadi, the 14 regulations on billboards have
\nmany loopholes.<\/p>\n
\"The ambiguous regulations for billboards are often used by
\nthe corrupt officials for obtaining their personnel benefits,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Muljadi Suriawan, another AMLI executive, concurred with
\nGunawan, saying that the city administration, for example, only
\nstated to charge an applicant some Rp 215 million for a billboard
\nthat should be worth some Rp 1.2 billion. In fact, the applicants
\npaid more than that amount, but then was corrupted by the
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
\"How it could happen, you can answer by yourself,\" said
\nMuljadi, citing the example of a billboard of a cigarette product
\nnear the Hilton Hotel on Jl. Gatot Subroto, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Muljadi also criticized the city governor decree no 46\/2001
\nwhich gave guidelines where the billboards should be placed. He
\nsaid that in the decree, there are many places which could not be
\nused for installing the billboards.<\/p>\n
\"But, such prohibitions become meaningless, as an article of
\nthe decree said that the locations could be a place for
\nbillboards if it is permitted by the governor,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to AMLI's chairman Aip Syarifudin, the inconsistent
\nregulations have also caused chaotic conditions of billboards in
\nthe city.<\/p>\n
\"We can see the condition along the streets that shows no
\norder on the placement of billboards,\" said Aip.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, head of the city revenue agency Dadan Supriyadi
\ndenied that the process of issuing a permit for billboards takes
\nfive months. He said that the normal process in all agencies in
\nthe city administration is only around 31 days.<\/p>\n
\"I do not understand if they say the processing of a permit
\ntakes five months,\" said Dadan, adding it could take so long if
\ntheir applications were incomplete.<\/p>\n
Dadan also denied about the rampant corruption. \"I cannot
\ncomment on such an allegation if there is no evidence, as it will
\nonly waste my time,\" according to Dadan.<\/p>\n
Long process in obtaining permits for billboards:<\/p>\n
1. Submitting application to city revenue agency. (one day)<\/p>\n
2. City revenue agency issues notes for creation of the
\nbillboard's block plan to the city planning agency. (seven days)<\/p>\n
3. The block plan is processed by city planning agency while the
\ncity revenue agency asks the billboard picture from the
\napplicant. (30 days)<\/p>\n
4. City revenue agency issues notes on the billboard rates to the
\nmayoralty's construction supervision agency. The latest agency
\nissues its calculation of tax and levies. (30-50 days)<\/p>\n
5. The city revenue agency takes files on the billboard from the
\nmayoralty's construction supervisory agency. (seven days)<\/p>\n
6. Further process in the revenue agency. (58 days)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/billboard-permit-rules-easy-money-for-officials-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }