Campaign targets illegal billboards
A Beijing district area is demolishing billboards as part of a citywide demolition campaign aimed at improving the capital skyline.
Twenty-four illegal billboards, or 40 percent of all the billboards attached to tall buildings, were demolished in the Nanmofang area of Chaoyang on Monday, People's Daily reported Thursday.
Nanmofang began destroying billboards on November 23 to "purify the city space and to create a beautiful skyline" in accordance with an official campaign.
Outdoor advertising and incompliant billboards that exceed the height or the edges of a building will be deemed illegal and removed, according to billboard management regulations in the capital city, which were released in September by Beijing Municipal Commission of City Management.
Thousands of illegal billboards have been torn down. By the end of the year, more than 10,000 will have been removed in the 16 districts of the city, according to the commission in October.
"Companies tend to make billboards as big and eye-catching as they can," Wen Jingcai, Nanmofang urban enforcement official told the official newspaper.
"Some of the billboards even have potential safety risks," Wen said.
