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Jakarta Post

Giant billboards to be banned for safety reasons

Extreme weather that hit Jakarta in the past few weeks did not only leave some parts of the city inundated with floodwaters, but also caused giant billboards to fall down in West Jakarta

Winda A. Charmila (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, February 28, 2017

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Giant billboards to be banned for safety reasons

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xtreme weather that hit Jakarta in the past few weeks did not only leave some parts of the city inundated with floodwaters, but also caused giant billboards to fall down in West Jakarta.

These incidents have caused the Jakarta administration to take the action of permanently removing billboards erected along streets across the city. Jakarta city secretary Saefullah said on Monday that the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) had been ordered to dismantle any billboards that have expired permits.

“There are almost 1,000 billboards that still have permits and we will remove them once their permits expire and encourage people to advertise on certain buildings [by using light-emitting diode (LED) billboards] instead,” Saefullah.

The city administration will no longer issue permits for new street billboards.

On Saturday, two giant billboards in the Slipi area of West Jakarta fell down after heavy rains and strong winds hit the city for hours, causing two cars and one motorcycle to be damaged. There were no casualties reported in the incidents.

One of the billboards fell onto a car that had a driver and three passengers inside. Witnesses said the driver suffered an injured shoulder and back, while his children, who were sitting beside him, suffered head injuries. The children’s mother, who was sitting on the back seat, suffered injured legs.

A motorcycle driver identified only as Romi was able to avoid the falling billboards at the last minute by jumping onto the nearby pavement. His motorbike was heavily damaged.

Meanwhile, the other billboard near Harapan Kita Hospital fell down and hit a taxi. The taxi driver was not injured.

“The responsibility is in the hands of the advertisement agency,” Saefullah said.

Earlier, Jakarta Taxation and Fees Agency head Edi Sumantri said that the company was willing to take responsibility for the billboard incidents.

Following the incidents, the Jakarta administration revoked the company’s license and planned to take down the remaining billboards owned by the company across the city.

The permits of the collapsed billboards were valid until 2017. The billboards, however, were allegedly built on weak foundations and the company did not maintain them regularly.

Billboard collapses often occur in the city, particularly during the rainy season. Last year, in September, a giant billboard in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, fell down during heavy rain and strong winds. Three months later in December a billboard near the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport entrance gate in Tangerang, Banten, also collapsed when high intensity rains and strong winds hit the city. The billboard blocked the street and caused severe congestion.

In November 2015, a small billboard in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, also collapsed and caused traffic congestion.

To prevent such incidents from happening in the future, the city administration has looked into installing LED billboards on buildings as an alternative. The problem is, Saefullah said, several parties, like building owners, ask for more incentives since maintaining such billboards requires so much electricity.

“Our plan is to use a profit-sharing system of 70:30 — 70 percent for the building owners and 30 percent for us. However, they want an additional 30 percent,” Saefullah said, adding that the incentive issue had been acknowledged by Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.

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