Guangzhou's Environmental Sanitation Bureau will add 284 public toilets and renovate 192 old ones in busy city areas next year.

The city had problems with public toilet distribution and layout, a Guangzhou Daily report said. According to standards set by the Ministry of Construction, there will a toilet every 300 to 500 meters in busy downtown areas. In transport terminals, scenic spots and other places where crowds congregate, the distance between toilets should be kept to within 300 meters. Although the bureau requires hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to open toilets to the public, problems still exist, particularly during holidays.

An investigation by the Urban Survey Team under the city's statistics bureau showed that almost 25 percent of residents were not satisfied with the toilet distribution and almost 57 percent thought more work needed to be done. Only 0.6 percent of the respondents were 'very satisfied.' More were not satisfied with toilet signs, unreasonable layout and sanitation.

Some toilets charge for toilet tissues and do not give change.

According to a long-term plan, the bureau will add 545 new toilets and renovate 354 old ones by the year 2020.

The city's 10 districts have 3,175 public toilets, 641 of them under the administration of the bureau.

2004/12/29 
Source:Newsgd