Chennai to get ‘smart toilets’ with Wi-Fi and potable water

CHENNAI: As part of the Singara Chennai 2.0 initiative, the city corporation is set to build modern public toilets in 62 locations across the city. In this regard, the civic body had invited Expression of Interest (EIA) from bidders in the last week of October. The toilets need to be built, operated and maintained in the Public-Private Partnership method.

Official sources told TNIE the proposed smart toilets will have facilities, including Wi-Fi, potable water, ATMs nearby, sanitary pad vending machines, solar photovoltaic rooftop panels, and commercial spaces for advertising. 

“Chennai already has 800 normal toilets with 7,300 seats. In addition, we need self-sustainable and alternative public toilet models that can be set up across the city in an eco-friendly way,” a senior corporation official said. 

According to the EIA document accessed by TNIE, the toilets would be women, child, and disabled-friendly with uninterrupted water supply. Other features include automatic flush, LED indicators to notify users of the status of occupancy, and display boards in English, Tamil, and Hindi. Contractors taking up the project have been asked to provide a sufficient workforce to maintain the toilets as well. 

Incidentally, such modern toilets set up during the AIADMK government’s tenure had failed to take off, with most of them now being dysfunctional. But officials said they would address the drawbacks this time by allocating a commercial display space. “We have advertising space in the design.

This would encourage real estate companies or any other corporate entities to cash in on the opportunity. The extra money would help the civic body also to maintain the toilets better,” the official said. 
The toilets are to come up at some important localities such as Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, Pallikaranai,  Adyar, and Sholinganallur.

Some popular spots identified 

• High Court l Mint Bus stand
• Broadway Bus stand  
• Ambattur Industrial Estate 
• Bougainvillea Park  
• Arcot Road Park 
• ECR (Near CMWSSB Well)
• OMR (Opp to CMWSSB office)