Aug 27, 2010
MBPJ abiding by regulations
The policy to grant Temporary Occupancy Licences (TOL) for billboard sites and the rental rates of not more than 30% of advertising income was a state policy, Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) public relations officer Zainun Zakaria said.
Zainun said the policy was put in place to create a fair, transparent and effective way to manage state resources (state land) economically and professionally for the benefit of the people while increasing non-assessment revenue of the council and reducing the dependency on assessment rates.
The policy allows the local authority to control and prevent illegal billboards by advertising companies due to the tussle for strategic sites that could pose a danger to public safety.
Zainun was commenting on a letter “Misconception about the Billboard Industry” by Ganad Media chief executive officer Gan Kok Beng published in StarMetro on Aug 25.
She said the policy also prevented the loss in revenue due to contributions being channelled to the MBPJ Football Club like before.
The state government was now giving out TOLs to local authorities for state land including Tenaga reserve land instead of giving it directly to individuals or companies.
“This will benefit local authorities which could make use of the land for public use (car parks or recreational) by renting out the land to individuals or companies and the returns could benefit the people,” Zainun said.
The council has set up three sub-committees to implement the new billboard guidelines for site inspection, rate assessment and enforcement.
The sub-committees are chaired by councillors and all report directly to the mayor who is the chairman of the sustainable development committee.
In terms of implementation of the new guidelines, the council has carried out a census to get statistics on existing billboards.
Billboards that are found to be dangerous has been identified to be taken down immediately.
Priority for sites would be given to existing billboard owners and to companies who voluntarily take down billboards without approval.
Billboards are also checked for planning approval, structure approval, licence payment and TOL approvals.
Investigation would be carried out to check if the billboards comply with the guidelines.
The companies will then decide if they want to pay their licensing fees based on 30% of the billboard revenue or a fixed rate.
The licences would be valid for three years where operators would be given a one-year extension if their billboards comply with the guidelines.
For enforcement purposes, the council has introduced two plates to be put on the billboards: Plate A is for billboards that comply fully to the guidelines and given a 3+1 year rental while Plate B is for billboards that only partially comply to the guidelines and given only a three-year lease.
So far, 100 plates have been put by companies who have settled their payments this year.
Only two companies, Ganad Media Sdn Bhd and Laguna De Bay Sdn Bhd have been disputing the policy and guidelines.
Ganad Media has not been paying any site rental fees on three sites on government land since 2005 and another three for 2009 and 2010.
The company has not paid licensing fees for seven billboards on private land since 2009.
“If they have no problems paying rental on the structures on private land, then why should they have problems paying for those on government land?” asked Zainun.
The implementation of policy and guidelines in Petaling Jaya has been carried out with the cooperation of players in the industry, including The Outdoor Advertising Association of Malaysia, Association of Accredited Advertising Agency of Malaysia, Malaysian Advertisers Association, Media Specialist Association and the All Petaling Jaya Residents Association.
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