Cairo: The Egyptian government has said it will temporarily halt issuing new licences for street advertisements across the country in order to boost the country’s aesthetic beauty
The ban was announced on Wednesday following a cabinet meeting.
“All the [28] governorates of the country have been notified of this decision and asked to set up their own councils for landscape harmony,” Minister of Local Development Hesham Al Sharif said at a press conference in Cairo.
“This decision does not apply to advertisements on the highways,” he added.
The ban, which took immediate effect, will remain in force until the governmental National Organization for Urban Harmony works out new regulations in conjunction with the Ministry of Local Development, Al Sharif added.
“This is aimed at creating an identity for each Egyptian town and village that suits its geographical features. At the instruction of the prime minister, different ministries will cooperate in this project with the aim of preserving Egypt’s beauty and its visual image,” the official said.
Prominent Egyptian business tycoon Naguib Sawiris says the move was overdue.
“The government announces stopping the issuance of new licences for street adverts. Why do this? There are still two buildings that can be seen in the street!” he comments sarcastically in a tweet.
In recent years, massive billboards advertising a wide assortment of goods and services as well as TV shows and films have sprung up on Egypt’s bridges and rooftops of towering buildings.
Several landscapers have condemned the adverts, calling them eyesores. Some safety experts have warned that the illuminated billboards can cause road crashes at night by distracting drivers’ attention.
Since 2014, Egyptian authorities have been going ahead with an ambitious project aimed at restoring the late 19th century central Cairo, once dubbed the “Paris of the East”
The scheme features giving a facelift to the historic buildings, preserving their ornate ornaments and providing pedestrian-friendly streets. The plan costs an estimated 400 million Egyptian pounds (about Dh83 million).
