The Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) aims to bring down about 50 advertisement hoardings in the city which were put up without following the regulations specified.

City Mayor A Rahim Nin said the operations today focused on taking down hoardings which had been licensed, but did not follow the regulations specified in the MBJB Licensing By-Laws 2010.

"We will bring down advertisement hoardings exceeding the size 20 x 40 which were blocking ventilation, illumination and covering the building structures," he told reporters before commencing the operation to bring down the boards in Johor Baru today.

A Rahim stressed that he was serious in tackling the installation of advertisement hoardings, because such acts could bring about various risks to the public in case of emergencies.

He said owners of premises whose advertisement hoardings had been brought down would be charged between RM4,000 to RM5,000 to pay for the cost of the operations.

"Owners of premises who fail to pay the cost of bringing down their advertisement hoardings are liable to court action," he added.

Last year alone, about 5,000 advertisement hoardings - which were installed by owners of premises to attract customers and did not follow specifications - had been detected.

- Bernama