Five public bathrooms will be constructed on vacant land lots in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City as part of a bid to address a dearth of toilets in the city.

Ho Chi Minh City vice-chairman Bui Xuan Cuong has approved a proposal from the District 1 People’s Committee and the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment to build makeshift restrooms on five vacant land lots in District 1.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment was assigned to help the district select a suitable investor for the public toilet development project, while the District 1 People’s Committee is in charge of determining the locations, sizes, and investment methods for them.

The district was also told to work with the investor to reach a consensus on the construction time and draw up a plan for dismantlement when the owners of the land lots begin construction on already approved pending projects.

Potential investors for the projects have been told that they must be committed to dismantling the projects for free, ensuring that no fees will be collected at the restrooms while they are in use.

The District 1 People’s Committee’s proposal centered on constructing the public toilets on five vacant land lots whose investors had yet to implement projects, including lots on Nguyen Hue, Le Duan, Nguyen Trung Truc, and Hai Ba Trung Streets.

The municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that the department could immediately hand over lots on Le Duan and Hai Ba Trung that are currently under the management of the Land Fund Development Center.

Ho Chi Minh City is facing a severe shortage of public restrooms. The city has a mere 51 urination sites and around 200 public restrooms.

The city is ranked 67th among 69 tourism cities in the world with poor public toilets, Nikkei Asia cited rankings by QS Supplies, a toilet trading company, in a report released in early February.

Woefully, in downtown Ho Chi Minh City – the city’s tourism hub – there is a severe lack of public toilets.

District 1 has 18 public restrooms in 13 public locations, including four markets, seven parks, one bus stop, and a residential area.

A recent survey conducted by the District 1 People’s Committee showed that 1-2 million people travel or work each day on the district’s streets. Meanwhile, the district’s public toilets serve some 12,500 people each day.

At a working session with District 1 on March 19, Ho Chi Minh Party chief Nguyen Van Nen said that public restrooms are a necessity for the city and urged the district to speed up public toilet construction, while calling on schools, restaurants, and businesses to allow free use of their toilets.  

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