Chisinau authorities watching closely outdoor advertisement

Chisinau interim mayor Veaceslav Iordan insists on assessing the outdoor advertisement industry. A week ago when he requested to inspect Chisinau’s billboards, he sought to learn the total number of billboards, regardless of their dimensions, Info-Prim Neo reports. At the moment, as local authorities say, “the outdoor advertisement industry is covered by fog”, as no one can tell exactly the size of amounts invested, the number of billboards and ad operators. A system that would compute the audience interested in outdoor advertisement and a clear legislation are also missing. At the same time, customers are paying greater attention to it. This fact has determined interim mayor Vasile Ursu to declare war against billboards that are advertising stockings or alcoholic beverages. As interim head of architecture, urbanism and land relations Division, Nicon Zaporojan says, until now 787 billboards of three dimensions have been counted in Chisinau. As their inventory has been not carried out for several years, the process will last a month at least, Zaporojan added. A few days ago, the Association of Advertising Agents in Moldova (AAAM) requested the Chisinau City Hall to cancel the contract with “EPA MEDIA” firm, commissioned to build omnibus stops and allowed to post outdoor advertising throughout the city. AAAM spokesperson Ludmila Andronic, editor-in-chief of “Business Class” magazine, stated on Thursday, February 8, at a press conference that this contract might corner the entire outdoor advertisement industry in the capital. AAAM sought from the Parliamentary Commission for Economic Policy, Finance and Budget, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the Municipal Council and Chisinau City Hall, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Anticorruption Centre to check the corruptibility of the contract signed by former mayor Vasile Ursu with “EPA MEDIA” firm. Councillor of “Our Moldova Alliance” (AMN) faction Oleg Cernei recently stated that a presidential advisor and the unaffiliated councillor Mihai Severovan, with the support of the former interim mayor Vasile Ursu, are behind the deal with the Austrian firm “EPA MEDIA”. At the same time, Cernei accused communist councillor Nicoale Moţoc of the fact he lobbies the interests of an advertisement firm concerning the setting up of the advertising billboards on the viaduct. The advertising agents assert that as from the foundation, the business of the outdoor advertising is in a shadow, due to the more or less suspected connections between local administration and operators, equivocal legislation in the field, unfair competition. They also say that in lack of some professional monitoring and transparency of operators, is difficult to establish what sums of money are annually spent on this advertising segment.