Weeding out illegal advertisements in Subang Jaya

Weeding out illegal advertisements in Subang Jaya

Every council department is assigned to overlook an area as a collective effort to ensure the municipality is free from illegal advertisement menace.

Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) has taken up new measures like setting up zones division, establishing a flying squad unit and embarking on a smart partnership to get rid of unauthorized banners and billboards.

Council president Adnan Mohd Ikhsan announced today that every council department is assigned to overlook an area as a collective effort to ensure the municipality is free from illegal advertisement menace.

An area office was picked in each zone to spearhead the operations to remove illegal banners, he said at a press conference today.

Besides, MPSJ has also engaged with the Social Welfare Department (JKM), public and private universities who provide volunteers through smart partnership.

“For instance seven juvenile delinquents from JKM were involved in removing banners three times a week. Till June 2010, they took down 2898 illegal advertisements,” he said.

“To strengthen the effort, the council is going to co-operate with the Malaysia Prison Department starting next month,” he added.

He revealed that 1122 applications had been sent to the Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to request that the contact numbers shown on illegal banners to be terminated.

Compounds carrying a maximum fine of RM1000 will also be issued to offenders.

He also called on the public to act as the eyes and ears for the council.

“If they see any illegal banners hung up near their houses, help us to take it down,” he urged.

SIGNAGE’s pedestrian bridges might come down too

Meanwhile Ikhsan said the council will not rule out the possibility of demolishing all public amenities built by its concessionaire-turned-critique SIGNAGE Inc.

The facilities, which include three bus stations, two pedestrian bridges and one overhead crossing in Subang Jaya, was built by SIGNAGE Inc as a conditioned exchange in securing MPSJ’s billboard and outdoor advertisement concession for 15 years.

However, their relationship soured since 2008 as Signage Inc brought MPSJ to court for failing to obtain temporary occupation license (TOL) for 23 billboards, causing them to be demolished by the Public Work Department (JKR).

Last month, MPSJ reacted by demolishing all 68 billboards and unipoles belonging to SIGNAGE Inc.

Adnan said the public facilities built by SIGNAGE might also be torn down as no TOL were acquired for the structures.

“I won’t rule out the possibility as it is only fair to demolish all structures owned by Signage,” he said.

“But we will have to look into other legal options before deciding what to do,” he added.

In other developments, Serdang Perdana 5 has been proclaimed as a dengue hotspot.

MPSJ in response held a two day operation that ended yesterday, where fogging and inspections were conducted from house to house.