The current situation of a serious shortage of public toilets, their degradation, filth and unsightliness has existed for many years in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. During the recent holiday, the issue of places for tourists to "relieve themselves" became urgent, while the problems of lack of land, ineffective calls for social investment, and maintenance and renovation have not received due attention. It is time for the issue of public toilets in large cities to receive great attention, great investment and implementation with great determination.
Only 80/1,000 socialized toilets can be built
To meet the needs of tourists and promote tourism development, since mid-2016, the Hanoi People's Committee has assigned the Department of Construction to coordinate with the Department of Culture and Sports to guide investors in building 1,000 public toilets (PTOs).
Although built from socialized resources, these toilets must ensure aesthetics, be suitable for the landscape, and use sustainable, environmentally friendly materials.
The plan is so grand, but after 7 years of implementation, so far only more than 80 NVSCC have been invested from socialized sources. In addition, Hanoi currently has more than 300 NVSCC, of which nearly 200 are brick structures built before 1990, nearly 100 are steel shells invested before 2010.
Similar to Hanoi, since 2016, Ho Chi Minh City has set a goal of building 1,000 public restrooms. However, to date, this city of over 10 million people only has about 255. Of which, public restrooms are mainly concentrated in inner-city areas such as District 5 with 38; in the center such as District 1 and District 3, there are about 10-18.
Speaking with VietNamNet reporters , representatives of NVSCC investment units in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City said that the cost of making a steel toilet is only 150-200 million VND/unit.
“If we wanted to, we could make a few hundred in a short time. However, finding a location to install hundreds of public toilets in the inner city is not easy, because it often attracts opposition from the people. Therefore, the plan to build hundreds of public toilets does not meet the requirements,” said a representative of the investment unit.
Dissecting the above issue, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen said that the lack of public health services is due to the lack of proper attention from the authorities. Ho Chi Minh City is a large city with 10 million people, so according to Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, the lack or difficulty for people to access public health services is unacceptable.
Ho Chi Minh City Chairman Phan Van Mai emphasized that the departments and branches should not discuss this issue back and forth, "it is unacceptable to lack public toilets in a large city like Ho Chi Minh City. Do not let people and tourists reflect that a civilized and modern city lacks public toilets".
"Only lack of determination, not lack of money"
Mr. Tran Anh Tu, General Director of Thong Nhat Park LLC, shared that two years ago when he was assigned to a leadership position, the first place he went to observe was the restrooms.
"I ask you to clean regularly, do not let people complain about polluted toilets," said Mr. Tu, adding that to build a new one, we have to wait for the project to renovate this park.
Hoan Kiem district alone currently has about 50 public restrooms, most of which are managed by the Urban Environment Company (URENCO) Hoan Kiem branch. Mr. Nguyen Huu Chien, Director of URENCO Hoan Kiem branch, said: "The restrooms managed by the unit are regularly cleaned by workers. However, because the equipment is old, they do not look clean."
Mr. Chien also expressed that the leaders of Hanoi City as well as Hoan Kiem District saw the shortcomings of the toilets and so they have come up with a plan to renovate and repair them. "In the coming time, the district and the city will calculate the cost to upgrade the public toilets to be more modern," said the Director of URENCO Hoan Kiem.
Speaking with VietNamNet reporter , National Assembly delegate Truong Xuan Cu (Hanoi delegation) said that if leaders at all levels and sectors are not determined enough, it will be very difficult to have a public service system that meets the needs of people and tourists in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
“The two largest cities in the country, the locomotives of socio-economic development, do not lack money to build several hundred public toilets. Even if there is a reasonable mechanism, the private sector is willing to spend money to do it,” said Mr. Cu.
According to delegate Truong Xuan Cu, in fact, over the past many years, the authorities at all levels of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have not paid due attention, so they have not allocated resources to invest in public toilets. Therefore, very few new public toilets have been built, and the existing ones have not been renovated in time, leading to deterioration.
Because they were built nearly half a century ago, many brick toilets in the Old Quarter of Hoan Kiem and Dong Da districts are seriously degraded.
A typical example is the NVSCC at 62 Tran Quy Cap (Dong Da District). The walls of this restroom are cracked, the outer layer of plaster is peeling off. All the wooden doors of this restroom are rotten. Some of the toilets are cracked, some are sunken and have been patched with cement.
Ms. Tran Thi Xuan, the cleaner here, said that this toilet was built before the 1980s, so almost everything is broken and no longer suitable for current socio-economic conditions.
"I have repeatedly requested the authorities to renovate it, but only a few people came to check and then left it alone. Even when the toilet was broken for a long time, I had to spend my own money to repair it to serve the people," Ms. Tran Thi Xuan shared.
Final episode : Need to abandon fragmented investment in public toilets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
Lack of public toilets, many places become 'black spots' for defecation
In Hanoi, there are still many public toilets that are so dilapidated that the doors are broken and you have to scoop water to flush them. In Ho Chi Minh City, many buildings have not been overhauled in time, and some places still lack toilets.
Contrasting scenes at public toilets in downtown Ho Chi Minh City
While many public toilets in Nguyen Hue walking street, Tao Dan park, etc. are quite modern, clean and free, some toilets in the center of Ho Chi Minh City are in a state of disrepair, smelly and abandoned.
Haunted by public toilets in Hanoi
Many public toilets in Hanoi are not only dirty, moldy and smelly, but also run-down and slimy, making locals and tourists feel uncomfortable. Most people have the mentality that they only have to use them if they are poor.
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