DCC fails to achieve revenue target from outdoor ads

Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has failed to achieve its revenue target from the outdoor advertisements including billboards in the last fiscal year for the alleged mismanagement and corruption of the officials concerned.

In the last fiscal year, the DCC earned only about Tk 50 lakh from the advertisement sector as against the annual target of Tk 6 crore.

According to the DCC, it earned Tk 50.61 lakh as against the target of Tk 12 crore from this sector in the fiscal year 2005-06, Tk 60 lakh as against the target of Tk 9.62 crore in the fiscal year 2003-04 and only Tk 10 lakh as against the target of Tk 20 crore in the fiscal year 2004-05.

According to an estimate of the advertising firms, the annual turnover of the outdoor advertisement sector is over Tk 100 crore.

A few months ago, the outdoor advertisement sector was shifted to the ‘Beautification Cell’ from the Estate Department of the DCC for better coordination between the city beautification and space allocation for the outdoor advertisement.

Since its inception, the ‘Beautification Cell’ has collected over Tk 1 crore from overhead shop signs that carry the advertisements of different corporate organisations in Dhaka city, said an official of the DCC.

“We have issued letters to 350 business organisations, including mobile phone companies, which posted overhead shop signs to promote their service. We have so far collected over Tk one crore from 26 companies including a leading mobile phone company,” the official also said.

The DCC for the first time is earning revenue from the small-sized shop sign display advertisements, he added.

According to the DCC rules, the ‘Beautification Cell’ charges the companies Tk 50 per square feet for shop signs without lighting and Tk 75 per sq-ft for the display of neon sign. The companies are supposed to pay model tax for any sort of commercial display in the city.

A conservancy official of the DCC said, “By collecting the tax, we cannot legalise the billboards posted defying the rules and regulations of the DCC,” adding, “Before collecting tax, the DCC will first check whether there is any violation of rules in terms of setting up billboards or other types of display advertisement including the size and height of the posted boards or not.”

The Cell has finalised the revised outdoor advertisement guidelines 2007 and after the approval, it will start new mission in this sector from the upcoming fiscal. All the outstanding model taxes will be realised from the advertisement owners in the next fiscal year, said the conservancy official.

According to the DCC estimation, there were around 7,566 hoardings, neon signs, and other advertisements of 160 advertising firms in the Dhaka city up to June 30, 2003. The number of outdoor advertisement installations has now increased to at least 20,000 and over 400 advertising firms are involved with this business.

Meanwhile, according to the tax schedule of 2002, the rate for billboards was fixed at Tk 3 per sq-ft on private property and Tk 6 per sq-ft on the DCC or the government land, which had increased later to Tk 50 and Tk 150. The normal rate for the neon signs increased from Tk 30 to Tk 75 per sq-ft on private land while Tk 150 on the government land.