Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam on Thursday said that they could not set up enough public toilets for scarcity of land despite having adequate funds.

“DNCC has a fund to set up 36 public toilets but it has no land. I have asked our councillors and officials to find spaces for constructing toilets,” he said.

The mayor said, “Though the DNCC is bound to deliver many public services to city dwellers, it has no land. Most of the land in Dhaka belongs to Bangladesh Railway, Public Works Department, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), and private housing companies. As a result, we cannot set up public toilets and secondary transfer stations for city dwellers.”

He urged the housing companies to set up public toilets and transfer stations in their respective areas.

Speaking about the faecal sludge management, he said that a major portion of human waste ends up in the water bodies in the capital for a lack of septic tanks and poor sewerage system.

“The faeces of most of the residences in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara neighbourhoods go through the drainage line of DNCC and find its way into the nearby lake in the end. Most of the buildings in the areas has no septic tank or soak well for preserving the waste and Dhaka WASA has no sewerage line as well,” he added.

He blamed RAJUK for absence of septic tanks in the city buildings and asked the authorities not to approve any building design without having a septic tank and soak well.

Water Aid Country Director Jahin Jahan said that City Corporations should create a network of public toilet service operators with private entities and entrust them with the task of maintaining the public toilets.

Speakers at the event said that public toilets should be managed by the private sector to ensure proper service.