HCM City asked to lift ban on bus ads
The People’s Committee has been told the ban is against State laws
HCM City’s ban on advertising on public buses should be lifted, the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism has told the municipal People’s Committee in an official dispatch on Tuesday.
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A bus terminal in HCM City. The city’s ban on bus advertisements should be lifted according to an official dispatch from the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism. |
“The Advertisement Law and governmental decrees allow for putting up advertisements in vehicles, including buses and taxi-cabs,” said Ninh Thi Thu Huong, head of the ministry’s Department of Advertisement Administration.
Ministry officials scrutinised the city’s decree banning such advertisement and sent it to the Ministry of Justice for further review before coming up with the recommendations, she said.
“Obviously, it contradicts the laws,” Huong said.” If advertisers have permits from local departments of culture, sport and tourism, they can go ahead.”
“Nowhere else in the country does such a ban exist,” she said, pointing out that the world had for long advertised on public transport.
Upon receiving the ministry’s dispatch, Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, deputy chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee, asked the Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism to hold a meeting the same day to discuss the issue and report to the committee.
The city administration slapped the advertisement ban last June to ensure traffic safety, claiming that other drivers might be distracted by the ads.
Experts estimate the city’s annual loss of revenue, due to the ban at around VND100 billion (US$5.5 million).
Huong pointed out that these revenues could be used to improve the fleet and reduce the subsidy burden on the city.
“Just compare the bus fleets in HCM city and Ha Noi: the latter has a newer, more beautiful fleet with cheaper fares,” she said.
Source:vietnamnet.vn
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