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SINGAPORE : The demand for housing in the rental and resale markets is indirectly contributing to an undesired sight around the island: Illegal advertisements touting housing options that appear at bus stops, lift lobbies and on lamp posts. Notices are appearing faster than they can be removed, some causing paint to peel or leaving behind marks while others end up as litter on the ground.
Ang Mo Kio resident Martin Sim feels that the notices are "unsightly".
"Those who put up rental notices at bus stops don't care about what happens to the notices. They end up as a mess," said the 32-year-old.
The problem has caught the attention of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), which received 941 "feedback" reports last year about illegal ads on its street fixtures, up from 569 in 2008.
And the number of such offences has doubled, from 201 in 2008 to 457 last year, said an LTA spokesperson.
The authority's latest approach to tackling this problem involves a pilot project for a contractor to manage nine notice boards at Ang Mo Kio, Yio Chu Kang and Yishun MRT stations.
Low-cost advertisers would need to pass their ads to the contractor and, for the first time, pay a fee to display their notices. The cost? Not more than 50 cents per ad per day, according to LTA's tender documents. Currently, advertisers put up their notices for free on the boards. The successful contractor is also required to ensure that surrounding street fixtures are free of illegal ads. The tender closed last week.
When contacted, some of those who put up advertisements illegally had mixed responses to LTA's latest initiative.
"If you put your advertisements on the board, they will be covered by others the next day," said a man who declined to be named.
A freelance property agent, who also declined to give his name, said he may consider paying if his notices are ensured a visible spot. Asked if he knew it was illegal to paste ads at bus stops, he said: "I see a lot of people doing it, so I do, too."
Town councils are also aware of such ads. Sembawang Town Council said it was aware of about 50 cases in the past two years. "Posting of such illegal advertisements comes from different agencies and are carried out at irregular hours," a spokesperson said.
To address the issue, the town council implemented a pilot project of putting up advertisement panels in certain blocks for use, free of charge.
Jurong Town Council, which finds around 24 cases each year, has told its officers and workers to remove any notices immediately. "The cost (of removing them) is quite nominal," said a spokesperson. "Generally, these notices are pasted at the lift landing or letter box area. As the walls of the lift lobbies are tiled and the letterboxes made of metal, removal of the notices will not damage the surface."
But when it comes to street fixtures, peeling paint is an issue.
Last month, LTA expanded a pilot trial in which anti-stick paint is used for pillars in certain parts of Geylang and Sims Avenue, and the junctions at Marine Parade Road and Joo Chiat Road and Marine Parade Road and Still Road South.
The LTA spokesperson urged the public to do their part and refrain from pasting such illegal ads. Those who are caught can be fined S$300 for the first offence and S$400 for repeat offences, she added.
If prosecuted, they may be fined up to S$2,000.
- TODAY/il
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