Illegal billboards have littered the island in recent months.

A June 20 deadline imposed by the planning authority for the removal of illegal billboards has been largely ignored.

A warning had been issued after the European elections stipulating that all illegal structures on public land without a permit had to be removed by last week or daily fines would be imposed.

However, according to Mepa sources, only a few billboards were actually removed and the majority are still displaying various adverts, including some paid by the government. Furthermore, no fines have been imposed.

Despite the deadline expiry, Mepa only issued a new warning giving owners of illegal billboards another three days to remove the structures.

The Sunday Times of Malta is informed that Mepa’s second warning, in which it stated that it would remove the billboards itself if the warning was ignored, at the expense of the owners and the advertisers, was also ignored.

Mepa’s second warning was ignored

Some of the billboards are advertising the government’s campaign promoting cheaper water and electricity bills. The illegal billboards saga has been going on for more than a year and started before the last general election when a private company, Aiken Services Ltd, erected some 60 structures illegally in prime positions across the country’s road network.

These billboards were used exclusively by the Labour Party for its election campaign.

However, instead of removing them after the election, as stipulated by law, the company’s billboards increased by around another 30 and started being used for commercial purposes.

The Labour government also started using these illegal billboards extensively for its political campaigns. Asked repeatedly about this situation, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had admitted that the government was making use of these billboards but shifted the blame on to the contractor who owned the billboards.