MIRI: The request from hikers to build public toilet on top of Canada Hill near Oil well No. 1 received attention of the Miri City Council (MCC) last year.
As Canada Hill is becoming a popular spot for hiking, there are more public requests coming in and a few sport organisations also support the idea of building a proper type of public toilets.
Under such circumstances, the MCC has reviewed the proposal so as to cater for the needs of hiking lovers and visitors effectively, it disclosed in a statement today.
The revised proposal will be of a permanent structure completed with basic facilities (electricity and water supplies).
Apart from this, it is also important to incorporate into the design the eventual maintenance aspects and preventive measures against vandalism as it is isolated from the city centre and in the evening the area could be quiet.
The proposed building will consist of male and female washrooms including toilets.
Each section will have three toilet cubicles.
There will be a separate toilet for special persons (OKU).
The design drawing has been completed and now it is subjected to siting approval from the authority.
The budget for the proposed construction is not more than RM150,000.
Application for allocation of fund for the construction from the state government had been submitted through the relevant agency.
The council expresses regret that the issue has been exploited by certain party to unnecessarily misled public to cast MCC in negative light and to doubt its intention to provide proper public toilets facilities to the public.
In a local daily dated October 18 last year, it was reported that Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Sebastian Ting would assist to look for fund for the construction.
On December 8 this year, state’s Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin, together with MMC mayor Adam Yii visited the proposed site for the public toilet construction.
