Kigali city authorities will begin vetting billboard content that will be erected in the city.
The city authorities noted that Content on billboards will effective this week have to be approved by the City authorities before advertizing companies put them up in public spaces for public consumption.
This follows a meeting by city authorities early this week with advertizing agencies aimed at informing them of the new policy and getting more ideas from them because this is something new in Rwanda.
Discussions are ongoing with the public sector and Rwanda Development Board. Kigali city also wants all advertizing companies to converge into an association so that they can have rules and regulations that they follow.
Bruno Rangira told IGIHE that the city of Kigali is reforming outdoor advertizing something that was not regulated before.
“Billboards have caused confusion in such a way that you find all kinds of advertizing populated in one area, the public doesn’t know what to look at, they fall down then at the end of the day we receive many complaints when they damage people`s properties”, remarked Bruno Rangira the Public Relations and Communication Expert at the City of Kigali.
Alliance Media, a continental outdoor advertising agency with regional offices in the country, is worried that the new policy could harm their business.
Abraham Mingech, the Alliance Media’s regional manager for Rwanda and Burundi, said just after the meeting with Kigali city authorities that the policy sounds good but that Alliance Media run same adverts across the continent and doesn`t understand how all other countries can have similar adverts and Rwanda has its own advert.
According to the new policy billboards have to be at least 50 m from the roundabout, be separated in such a way that there is enough distance between each one.
“Billboards will also have to be ensured as they damage people`s properties when they fall down”, said Bruno Rangira to IGIHE.
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