Faulty street toilets a waste of public funds

From left: Lim Lip Eng and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun (Photo from Sin Chew Daily)

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles (By Noel Achariaml, 8/8/2010)
Almost half of the 19 Automated Street Toilets (ASTs) built at the cost of RM400,000 each, are not in working order. This has caused many to question whether the money was well spent.
The matter was recently highlighted by Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who claimed that at least 10 of the AST were faulty. A check by Streets yesterday found eight out of the 10 toilets identified by the two MPs were not working. The one at Laman Budaya, near Istana Budaya, kept rejecting the coins, and the rest had notices on the doors stating that they were under maintenance. The faulty ASTs are located in Jalan Bukit Bintang, near McDonald's and near Lot 10; Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, near the Bangkok Bank; Jalan Pudu, near Puduraya; Jalan Telawi 1 in Bangsar; Jalan Ara Kiri 1 in Bangsar; and Jalan Hang Tuah, near the monorail station.

Student Hafiz Khir, 23, said City Hall should not have spent so much money to build the ASTs if it could not maintain them. "The ASTs were built with taxpayers' money. City Hall should be more prudent with their spending," he said. Hawker Eddy Malik, 33, who has a stall near the Jalan Ara Kiri 1 AST, said City Hall should conduct regular checks at all the ASTs. "The AST here has been out of order for weeks. We have seen some contractors coming to inspect the AST, but nothing was done," he said. Tourist Azigai Mona, 21, from the Philippines, said public toilets were a basic facility. "Public toilets must be properly maintained at all times. It's quite distressing to have to rush to a toilet and find that it is out of order," she said.
Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said he would get City Hall to act immediately on the problem. "I will instruct City Hall to check on the faulty ASTs. We should be able to rectify the problems in the next few days," he said.
Lim, who visited the AST in front of the Lot 10 shopping centre, said that the City Hall status report he received stated that the water tanks were leaking, the automated doors not functioning, the ceiling damaged, the air-conditioning faulty, the shutters broken and the autoseat faulty. "This area (Jalan Bukit Bintang) is a tourist hotspot. Why are the toilets not properly maintained by City Hall? A lot of money was spent to build the toilets. This is a sheer waste of public funds," he said. He said the ASTs were handed over to City Hall after they were built and as such, it was the local authority's duty to maintain them. "If it cannot handle the task, then it should look at hiring a contractor to handle the maintenance work," Lim said. Fong said they had received many complaints about the ASTs and urged City Hall to maintain them as malfunctioning toilets would have a negative impact on the city's image.

The ASTs were built by Tetuan GHB Bathroom Products Sdn Bhd. The first AST was built in 2006 in Jalan Bukit Bintang. Each of the prefabricated AST comes with two cubicles featuring one squat toilet and one modern western water closet. State-of-the-art sensors automatically trigger water, soap and the hand-dryer upon use. The sensors also activate the flush after each use and the toilet seats automatically cleaned. The ASTs, which are disabled-friendly, also have a pull-down table for diaper-changing.

Related news: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/8/9/central/6819975&sec=central