Between 40 and 60 per cent of more than 10,000 advertising structures identified in Accra do not meet regulatory requirements, President of the Advertising Association of Ghana, Andrew Ackah, has disclosed.
He said an assessment by the association found that several billboards violate traffic and building regulations, while others have questionable structural integrity and use materials that do not meet the required standards.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, November 4, Ackah said the association conducted the exercise using its own resources to determine the extent of non-compliance in outdoor advertising across the capital.
He explained that the team mapped more than 10,000 advertising structures and compared their locations and installations with existing laws and technical guidelines.
“We counted over 10,000 billboards. What we did was technically use this database and then superimpose it on the law and the guiding document. We realised that between 40 to 60 per cent of these billboards are illegal because they flout those rules,” he said.
Ackah blamed the situation partly on weak enforcement by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), which are responsible for issuing permits and monitoring outdoor advertising installations.
He said although the Ghana Standards Authority had developed guidelines with input from relevant stakeholders to guide the permitting process, compliance remained a challenge.
He warned that illegal billboard installations would continue to increase unless the assemblies strengthened monitoring and ensured that advertising structures met the approved standards before permits were granted.
