Food stands and billboards attached to Beijing's public toilets
will be torn down by October as the city pushes to improve
management of the bathrooms.
"It is not proper to sell soft drinks or snacks right at the
toilets," The Beijing News on Saturday quoted an unnamed source
with the city's Urban Management Commission as saying.
The overhaul plan was drafted in response to complaints about
toilets with poor sanitation and toilet operators turning them into
commercial facilities.
The commission has ordered an immediate inspection by its
district branches on the facilities and sanitation of all public
toilets in the city. Operators who fail to meet sanitation
standards by the end of September will have their toilet management
licenses revoked. All food sales and billboards are banned.
Sources with the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering
Research Institute attributed the bad odor in some toilets to
insufficient ventilation and the lack or inappropriate use of
deodorizers.
Beijing now has more than 5,000 public toilets, and another
1,100 are scheduled to be built this year.
City authorities also plan to publish a guide to public
toilets.
(Shanghai Daily August 6, 2007)