Study of different modalities of public toilets in Kathmandu Metropolitan City :paper prepared for the South Asia Sanitation and Hygiene Workshop, 3...

In the capital city Kathmandu, one of the neglected aspects of urban sanitation is ‘Public Latrines’. There are different modalities for operating public latrines in the city. However, this study focuses on a new concept, the ‘City Service Center (CSC)’ and mobile toilets operating under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) modality. CSCs include public latrines with added services of showers, lockers and other utility shops such as café, restaurant and hair salon, under one roof. An agreement between the municipality and private companies to operate CSCs and mobile toilets has paved the way for private sector involvement in the public toilet sector. The responsibility of investment, operation and management is given to the private companies while land provision and monitoring is done by the municipality. The public toilets were constructed with a core motive of maintaining sanitation and hygiene and attaining a better standard for facilities, but high profit margin is also a dominant factor for private sector involvement. Therefore, compared to other modalities, public toilets under CSC have upheld adequate hygiene and sanitation status, user’s satisfaction and sustained operation profitably and successfully. However, the sustainability of mobile toilets is questionable due to lack of proper coordination among stakeholders and non-compliance with accords. Having said this, there is room to make further improvements to upgrade the toilets and improve the service. This will help to ensure sustainable sanitation services catering not only Kathmandu’s citizens but also visitors, domestic and foreign alike. [authors abstract]