Kathmandu, August 28

Kathmandu Metropolitan City is preparing to entrust the private sector with collecting advertising revenue in violation of its Advertising Board Promotional Material Regulation 2013.

To control visual pollution in Kathmandu, KMC in 2013 had introduced advertising policy.

DSP at Disaster Management Section of KMC Dhanapati Sapkota, who had initiated the campaign against illegal hoarding boards, took strong exception to the KMC’s plan. “The private sector is driven entirely by the profit motive. So, the plan to entrust the private sector with collecting advertising revenue would eventually ruin the beauty of Kathmandu,” DSP Sapkota said.

However, KMC Spokesperson Gyanendra Karki said the metropolis had planned the move as per the decision of elected representatives. He said the move would not violate KMC’s advertising policy.

“It is not necessary that what was best under the previous system run by bureaucrats will be equally effective under elected representatives,” he said. KMC is preparing to invite tenders from interested private firms for the purpose.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ban, hoarding boards, flex boards, pamphlets and posters continue to pollute public places in Kathmandu.

According to KMC’s Advertising Board Promotional Material Regulation 2013, all types of advertising materials placed on rooftops are illegal. If hoarding boards, billboards, flex boards among others, cause visual pollution, such materials should be immediately removed.

KMC gives permission to put up advertisements on electricity poles, public walls, and hoarding boards for a certain fee. Private companies, schools, and colleges can easily get permission to erect advertising materials by paying between Rs 3,000 and Rs 50,000 to KMC.