626 billboards in peril

626 billboards in peril

JAKARTA (JP): A city administration team may remove 626 billboards for reasons ranging from failing to pay their taxes to improper use of the Indonesian language, head of the City Revenue Office Wahab Rachmatsjah says.

The team began its examination yesterday. The removals, a follow-up on last year's program, are scheduled be finished on March 10, Wahab said in a written statement.

The 426 billboards being checked include those with no licenses, 123 with expired licenses, 47 with improperly registered sizes, 13 without taxation tags and seven which are not registered by an advertisement agency as required by law.

The team will also remove billboards which do not use the Indonesian language properly as promoted in the Ministry of Education and Culture's ongoing National Discipline Movement.

Other billboards to be pulled down include those constructed on sidewalks and those not compatible with cultural standards.

Last year, the city administration removed 24,000 billboards and street banners for similar violations.

Wahab also called on the owners of flimsily set up billboards to pull them down voluntarily within three days, as of yesterday, or have them pulled down by the city authorities. (03)