Staff Reporter
The City of Kwekwe will decommission the unusable public toilet at the Commuter Omnibus Terminus and construct a new one, Director of Works Engineer John Mhike has said.
Eng Mhike made the remarks during a full council meeting in response to concerns raised by Ward 2 Cllr Maxwell Judha over the unsanitary state of the facility, which has been condemned by commuters and residents.
He said the council will first open the refurbished public toilet at the Town Vendors Market before moving ahead with the decommissioning. However, the opening has been delayed after workers at a nearby construction site damaged sewerage infrastructure in the area.
“Construction of the public toilet is 100 percent complete. However, our neighbours who are working at the nearby construction site damaged the sewerage infrastructure. We are now in talks with them so that we can restore the damaged infrastructure and open the toilet to the public maybe this week,” Eng Mhike said.
He confirmed that plans for the replacement of the terminus facility are already in place.
“We are going to decommission the public toilet at the Commuter Omnibus Terminus and build a new one. Plans for the construction of the new toilets are ready. We are also going to make it a pay toilet as demanded by stakeholders,” he said.
Council officials say the move is expected to improve sanitation standards at one of the city’s busiest public spaces, which has long faced criticism for poor maintenance of ablution facilities.
