KATHMANDU: Lalitpur Metropolitan City and Bhaktapur Municipality are all set to speed up the pace of removing all hoarding boards and other outdoor advertisement materials to make the cities clean and safe.

Lalitpur Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan said his office removed such advertisement materials from time to time. “But we’ll accelerate that pace now,” said Maharjan, adding, “We are drafting a law to systematise the process of removing hoarding and flex boards.”

The new law, according to Maharjan, will also make it mandatory for businesses to put up signboards that are uniform and meet the city’s standards.

Haphazard placement of hoarding boards causes visual pollution, according to Sunil Prajapati, mayor of Bhaktapur Municipality, who also pledged to accelerate the pace of bringing down hoarding boards that have been put up illegally. “These boards do not look good in a historic city like ours,” said Prajapati.