KSAMC removes illegal signs, billboards in Corporate Area crackdown

The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has removed unauthorised signs and billboards from sections of the Corporate Area.

The enforcement drive, which took place on Sunday, targeted businesses at Clock Tower Plaza in Half-Way Tree, where the municipality said several proprietors had failed to regularise their signage or pay the required fees despite receiving written notices and follow-up reminders.

Chief Executive Officer of the KSAMC, Robert Hill, said the exercise forms part of an ongoing campaign to restore order, improve public safety, and hold non-compliant businesses accountable.

Hill said the enforcement drive began on April 1 following the end of a three-month concession programme for signage that ran from January 1 to March 31.

He stated that the municipality had made several attempts to secure compliance before resorting to enforcement action.

"We would have written to them, we would have called, we would have followed up, and some have remained non-compliant and actually rigid in their stance for not paying. So we are carrying through our normal legal activities by removing signage which has not been paid for and not been regularised here at Clock Tower Plaza, Half-Way Tree," he said.

Hill warned that the KSAMC will continue taking action against businesses that erect signs and billboards without the necessary authorisation.

He also highlighted the removal of an unauthorised billboard near the entrance to the Jamaica Society for the Blind on Old Hope Road, describing it as a significant concern.

"One of the structures that caught our attention, which actually surprised us, was an unapproved billboard erected right at the entrance of the Society for the Blind on Old Hope Road," Hill said.

According to the KSAMC CEO, the advertiser had been contacted and instructed to remove the structure but failed to comply.

"We were appalled that, having called the advertiser and instructed him to remove it, he refused to do so. So we're paying him the compliment of doing that today and ensuring that no structure that impedes movement, particularly of our disabled community, is placed as an obstruction to the free movement along the public thoroughfare," Hill said.

The municipality said the enforcement activities will continue across the Corporate Area as it seeks to ensure businesses comply with its signage regulations.

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