'City short-changed by ad-space sellers'
Sellers of public advertising space are making huge profits and paying only a fraction of these to the city, a Bangkok councillor asserted yesterday.
He demanded the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) redraft contracts for the leasing of advertising space to avoid losing money in the future. Democrat Party BMA Council representative for Chom Thong district, Pheerakorn Weerakul-sunthorn, said the city administration was receiving a fraction of the revenue generated from advertising in public areas. He called on the BMA's traffic and transportation department to review 23 deals with seven advertisers and revise terms and conditions for future contracts. Pheerakorn said bidding for advertising space should be conducted through electronic tenders in the future. Leases should be short-term only. He cited one company that constructed shelters at 200 bus stops in exchange for a nine-year lease on their advertising space. It pays an annual fee of Bt3.5 million and an additional Bt5 million a month to the administration, he said. The company was making 10 times that in revenue. In addition, he said the department allowed advertisers to erect advertising signs in public places in an obstructive manner.
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