PPP ‘service centers’with public restrooms

Enough to all the talks on how to provide a clean and practical solution to the lack of public restrooms. There is a practical solution.

There are hundreds if not thousands of “idle public lands” in high-density areas where people commute daily. These idle public lands can be put to good use for the common good.

There are also hundreds of thousands of commuters in city centers and high-density areas in the metropolis where these idle public lands can be of use to them. These commuters, including foreign tourists, are always in need of toilet facilities to answer the call of nature. But no such facilities are available except in some gasoline and service stations and in fast-food stores in the metropolis.

The practical solution is in a public-private partnership (PPP) program wherein the private sector will provide sets of three 20-ft shipping container vans, which will be converted into a solar-powered public restroom with a medical clinic and a police outpost, plus a convenience store—at no cost to the government. These “service centers” will be maintained 24/7 by people with disabilities (PWDs). No rent will be charged for the use of the idle public lands where these centers will be established.

—FERNANDO U. JUAN,
[email protected]