HCM City weighing two proposals to build public toilets
Ho Chi Minh City is considering two proposals, one from a Swiss company, to build public toilets.
One of them is from the Hanoi-based Vinasing Media and Trading Joint Stock Company, whose VND110 billion (US$5 million) project includes 1,000 toilets, 500 rubbish bins at parks, schools, parking lots, and metro stations and 10 tanker trucks to carry away wastewater.
The toilets will be built of lightweight materials that can be dismantled easily.The company has, in return, asked the People’s Committee for the right to use advertising spaces on the city’s 40 flyovers and walkers’ overpasses for 15 years.
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Swiss company Mister Loo has offered to build US$40,000 public toilet measuring 25-50 square metres and equipped with soap, napkins and air conditioners.
The company has suggested a fee of VND5,000-VND10,000 (US$0.23-US$0.45) to use the toilet, but Tran Vinh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, said the city has no intention of charging the public.
He called on the company to study toilet designs to identify the one best suited to the city’s culture and architecture.He instructed the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to work with the company to assess the proposal and work out the cost.
According to the department, the city has a total of 208 public toilets now, 155 of them in parks, markets, bus stations and along major streets, and the rest near tourist attractions.
