As part of its ‘renewed city’ beautification campaign targeting Visit Nepal 2020, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has announced it will remove hoarding boards and billboards from rooftops of all public and private spaces in the Capital.

Illegally installed hoarding boards and billboards on road intersections and rooftops of public and private spaces have long been contributing to visual pollution in the city.

Dhanapati Sapkota, chief of City Police, said the drive to remove hoarding boards will start from the first week of September, mainly along those routes that see more tourist movements.

According to Sapkota, the metropolitan city has already published a notice requesting advertisers and house owners to remove all the hoarding boards and billboards from their properties.

The Advertising Board Promotional Material Regulation Policy 2013 of the metropolitan city states that it is illegal to install commercial hoarding boards and advertisement material on additional frames on rooftops and balconies of private and public houses. The policy also bars everyone from sticking bills on utility poles.

“We are going to start our campaign from the airport, and go through Sinamangal, Tinkune, New Baneshwor, Maitighar, Tripureshwor, Kalanki and other VIP areas,” said Sapkota.

The metropolitan city has also announced it will remove signboards from shops, consultancies, educational institutions in New Road, Bagbazaar, New Baneshwor, and Chabahil.

In March, the metropolitan city had removed hoarding boards from roadsides as part of the first phase of its campaign. It had removed as many as 50 hoarding boards from Maitighar, Sundhara, Thapathali, Kalimati, Kalanki, Sorakhutte, Naxal, Baneshwor and the airport. But in the last five months, hoarding boards and billboards have again resurfaced in the areas.

“Now onwards we will strictly monitor if people are illegally installing such advertising boards haphazardly,” said Sapkota.

Traffic police, who say such flashy advertisement boards distract drivers and road accidents, have welcomed the metropolitan city’s plan to rid the city of such billboards and vowed to help the Kathmandu Metropolitan City in its drive.

“If all the flashy hoarding boards or billboards are removed from roadsides, this will also help reduce road accidents to some extent,” said Rabi Kumar Paudel, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division.