The Nairobi County government has rolled out a renewed crackdown on illegal billboards and excessive visual clutter, placing advertising companies on notice.

Chief Officer for Urban Development and Planning, Patrick Analo, said the operation will focus on major roads such as Mombasa Road, Ngong Road, Waiyaki Way, and James Gichuru Road, among other busy corridors notorious for billboard congestion.

Analo noted that many of the billboards in these areas had been mounted without approval. Advertisers were urged to remove them voluntarily or risk enforcement action, including forced removal by county authorities.

The county further warned that firms that fail to comply will face penalties to cover the costs of removal and enforcement.

“Advertising companies are urged to undertake self-removal of these billboards because if we remove them, we will impound them and charge the companies a removal penalty,” Analo warned.

The latest crackdown forms part of Governor Johnson Sakaja’s wider urban renewal and beautification programme, coming just weeks after he survived an impeachment bid.

Alongside billboard removal, the county has stepped up the restoration and expansion of Nairobi’s street lighting network, with new poles installed along Lower Hill Road, Dar es Salaam Road, Enterprise Road, Ngong Road, Arboretum Drive, and in areas such as Kilimani, the CBD, Buruburu, and Westlands.

However, officials have flagged interference from rogue operators. Chief Officer Analo revealed that some advertisers have tampered with power lines to mount pole-based billboards, undermining the lighting systems.

The billboard purge also follows an announcement by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) that it would dismantle illegal signboards and installations along the Eastern Bypass, citing both safety risks and loss of aesthetic value.

Meanwhile, Sakaja has also taken aim at unlawful waste disposal, warning that private service providers involved in illegal dumping face deregistration.

He criticised firms for discarding waste at undesignated sites despite being paid to manage it properly, and stressed the county’s commitment to expand waste management infrastructure while creating jobs for youth to maintain clean streets.