Two-thirds of billboards illegal: Official
JAKARTA (JP): Almost two-thirds of the current 27,171 advertisement billboards erected at several places in the capital are without proper permits or with expired permits, an official said on Monday.
The City Revenue Agency chief Deden Supriyadi said 805 of the 18,854 "problematic" billboards would be brought down soon since they were erected without any permits at all.
"The rest of the billboards have been on display with expired permits, of a different size than stipulated in the permits or placed at restricted areas," Deden told journalists.
According to Deden, some of the billboards had even been around illegally for the last seven years due to the lack of control and supervision of city officials in charge.
"This is the first time we are identifying billboard violators. We have a very limited staff of 40 officers to make on-the-field inspection of these advertisements." he said.
He said his office planed to bring down the 805 billboards as soon as possible but admitted that because of the shortage of staff they might not be able to meet the schedule.
According to data from the agency, some of the adverts that will be brought down include the 96-square-meter billboard of Sharp electronic on Jl. Batu Tulis Raya and four Lucky Strikes billboards of different sizes on Jl. H.O.S. Cokroaminoto, all in Central Jakarta.
Most of the giant adverts in the capital are erected on privately-owned properties. Only 30 of them are erected at city- owned buildings and on city land.
Billboards more that 24 square meters should be registered with both the city planning and revenue agencies, while those measuring between six square meters and 24 square meters in size should be registered with the local mayoralty's planning subagency.
Those of smaller size should be registered with the district administration offices concerned.
According to the City Bylaw No. 8/1998 and Gubernatorial Decree No. 74/2000 a tax and a levy is required to be paid to the City Revenue Agency for every billboard. The tax, for instance, is set at 25 percent of the "rental fee".
Under the old regulation, the tax was set at between Rp 4,000 and Rp 6,000 per square meter per day.
Under the new bylaw, details of which will be made public on Monday, the tax will depend on the location of the billboard.
The city administration had prepared Gubernatorial Decree No. 133/2000 naming the 163 sites on city-owned property allowed for billboards with the minimum size of 24 square meters.
Another Gubernatorial decree No. 281/2000 signed by Governor Sutiyoso on Nov. 10 also issued on Monday, restrict the erection of billboards on city-owned properties other than the 163 sites stipulated in the above mentioned decree.
Under the new regulation, all city-owned sites will be put out to competitive bidding and advertising companies that intend to participate in the bidding will have to deposit a bond.
However, the regulation will also allow bidders to bid for as many sites as they want.(dja)