Hanoi looks to private sector to fund more public toilets this year
Hanoi plans to build 250 new public toilets this year to add to the 370 currently in use, the city’s construction department said.
The new toilets will be built based on financial sources of private sectors, according to Le Van Duc, head of Hanoi’s Department of Construction.
The capital has 371 public toilets, of which only 100 are situated along streets or at entertainment facilities while two thirds are still located in residential areas.
Most of the toilets were built in 1990 and have been going to pots for years, Duc said.
In 2012, the city’s authority intended to replace the old public restrooms with the new ones but high construction costs deterred them from doing so.
It was not until August, 2016 that a private company agreed to set up 1,000 new public toilets across the city. In exchange, it would be allowed to put up advertising billboards on footbridges and overpasses.
The lack of public toilets has resulted in public urination in the capital, which had a population of 7.6 million by the end of 2015, not to mention large numbers of migrants and foreign visitors.
Ho Chi Minh City faces the same problem with only 200 public toilets serving the needs of its 10 million residents and the 5 million foreign tourists that visit the city each year.
From February this year, the Vietnamese government has slapped a fine of US$44-133 on people peeing in public, significantly higher than the previous rate of US$9-13.