An estimated one-third of the billboards on Malta’s roads are being used by the government or the president, an exercise by Times of Malta has found.

These billboards are calculated to be costing taxpayers a total of about €35,000 every month.

In recent weeks, motorists have noticed more billboards popping up all over the island.

A recent tour of most of Malta’s main thoroughfares by Times of Malta confirmed that, while the majority display adverts by private companies, about a third promote some message from the government or the president’s office.

Times of Malta counted 84 billboards in all. Fifty-three of them were being used by a number of private advertisers, 25 by the government, three by the Labour Party and three by the Nationalist Party.

Quotes obtained from two different suppliers showed the price for a billboard in a prime location ranges between €1,350 and €1,500 for a month’s use.

The price includes printing and installation.

This means the government is currently spending over €35,000 on billboards per month.

A number of government billboards are part of the COVID-19 vaccine drive, aimed at encouraging people to get the jab. A few others are also related to the pandemic, with the focus on encouraging people to “stop the spread of infection”.

As Times of Malta drove around the island ahead of the lavish Malta Film Awards ceremony held last Saturday, a good portion of the government billboards were promoting that event, whose cost has remained under wraps. The president takes up his own share of billboards, such as to wish the public “best wishes for the new year”.

“We look ahead with trust in each other,” one says.

As the election draws near, with the date still to be announced, the Labour and Nationalist parties have yet to ramp up their presence on Malta’s roads. Last week, the four used by Labour were all commemorating two years since the prime minister took office.

The three PN billboards highlighted different electoral proposals, although at least one has sprouted up since then contrasting the €17,000 retainer that Robert Abela used to earn with the Planning Authority with the €1.75 cost-of-living increase.

Times of Malta contacted the Office of the Prime Minister to establish the exact amount that the government is spending on billboards but did not receive a reply.

A number of government billboards are part of the vaccine drive.

Illegal billboards

At least 14 billboards still stand despite enforcement notices affixed to them.

One of them was being used to convey the president’s new year wishes and the other was a government billboard related to the pandemic.

Illegal billboards have lined Malta’s roads for years. Since 2016, when a new legal notice regulating them was introduced, the Planning Authority has carried out periodic enforcement exercises targeting the illegal structures.

Yet, many of them continue to be used.