Brigida dos Santos – Public toilets in Dili are damaged and have no water, in particular toilets in Largo Lecidere and those in front of the Government Palace, the community appeal to the government to pay attention to the toilets.

The head of the Dili Sanitation and Drainage Department, Juliao de Jesus said the public toilets were damaged, due to the community not taking care and lack of responsibility by relevant departments."The toilets are part of basic sanitation, with the Ministry of Public, Transport, and Communication being responsible to maintain the toilets," he said in Dili.

He informed each Ministry to share and take responsibility, based on the national policy.

The public toilets damaged in Lecidere and Largo, are due to the lack of coordination between the authorities that are responsible for this issue stated Sr. Juliao de Jesus.

He said before the establishment of toilets, they should explain to the community, how important it is to care for public toilets.

One of the vendors with a stall nearby calls for the government to pay attention to this issue. "We see, the toilets are full of rubbish, and the smell is terrible because there is no water," he said.

A visitor to Largo ParkLecidere, DomiNGOsXimenes said the environment is not good and the smell gives bad image to the foreigners in Timor-Leste.

"Some communities at night drink alcohol and become drunk then they defecate and urinate arbitrarily and destroy the toilets," he said. He added, the government did not pay attention and ignore the fact the public toilets had no water.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/development/14780-no-water-in-public-toilets