HÀ NỘI – Many illegal billboards are still standing in the outskirts of the capital city despite the administration ordering their removal a month ago.

Hà Nội People’s Committee Chairman Nguyễn Đức Chung had last month asked the Department of Culture and Sports to crackdown on oversized and unauthorised billboards before October 3.

The move followed reports of widespread advertising violations in the city.

However, many billboards, mostly located on city’s outskirts, have not been removed. Dozens of these are in a dilapidated condition. They can be seen along the Nhật Tân-Nội Bài and Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ routes as well as the Belt Road No1. Some oversized billboards on the Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ route are broken and about to fall down. 

The Culture and Sports Department has said that as of September 30, more than 160 out of 190 billboards had been removed.

However, several districts including Sóc Sơn, Bắc Từ Liêm, Long Biên, Phú Xuyên and Đông Anh have not completed the task.

On the Nhât Tân-Nội Bài route in Sóc Sơn District, for example, as many as 51 of 68 violated billboards have not been removed.

Local administrations have explained the delay saying many of the billboards are not commercial advertisements. They say the billboards have also been used to disseminate information on the State’s policies.

A Bắc Từ Liêm District official said they had proposed twice to the municipal administration that billboards of a height less than 40m high are used for disseminating official information, but this was rejected.

Others have blamed improper management by authorised agencies for the current situation.

Trần Hùng, vice chairman of the Việt Nam Advertising Association, said that the city’s Department of Culture and Sports had stopped issuing advertisement licences in July, 2014, but have not announced plans for advertising activities. This has caused difficulties for enterprises in the industry, he said.

Trần Văn Thưởng, deputy head of the Department of Culture and Sports’ Culture Management, reiterated that the city was determined to remove all 190 billboards deemed illegal. The city would not take advantage of any billboard for dissemination work.

Deputy director Nguyễn Khắc Lợi said enterprises would have to pay the cost of removing their illegal billboards.

The department would propose to the city that enterprises that delay the removal or refuse to remove the illegal billboards are banned, he added. – VNS