“London”: the mayor’s office showed what street toilets they want to install in Tomsk

About six million rubles are included in the budget of Tomsk for 2024 for the arrangement of outdoor public toilets. The amount is only enough for two objects; they are planned to be located in Mikhailovskaya Grove and near the Avangard DNT. The mayor’s office showed what options for toilets could be installed. It is expected that visiting the sites will be free, because they will be built with city money, said Alexander Zhivoglyadov, head of the department of road activities and improvement.

Previously, the issue of public street toilets was repeatedly raised in the city; The mayor’s office noted that all existing toilets were private and not all of them functioned, but only those located in places where the owner saw economic benefits for himself. City Duma deputies proposed to include money in the budget for installing toilets on the streets.

Luxury or the norm: how things stand with public toilets in Tomsk

In March, the administration reported that there were six million rubles available for the installation of street toilets in the city this year. The mayor’s office then presented to the city council a version of a modular toilet, similar to the one installed last year at the Polytechnic stadium. However, the deputies criticized him, pointing out that the room is not vandal-proof, the toilet and sink in the room will quickly be broken, which is what happened in the previously installed toilet.

Officials were then asked to consider the option of a more vandal-proof toilet, including one with a metal coating inside.

Private toilets in the city are now not functioning at all, as the mayor’s office explained in March, due to the death of their owner and the lack of clarity about the heir to his property.

Photo: Tomsk administration

On April 25, at a meeting of the City Duma committee on urban services, the head of the department of road activities and improvement of the Tomsk administration, Alexander Zhivoglyadov, said that specialists had considered the option of arranging a more vandal-proof toilet, as well as reducing its cost by organizing utilities.

They plan to install toilets in Mikhailovskaya Grove and Avangard. The places were chosen, according to the official, from the point of view of traffic: “The criterion for determining the places for the toilet is the places of attraction for residents. They are placed where the largest number of people gather for holidays, for mass celebrations.”

The previously proposed toilet option was estimated at 3.9 million rubles. In addition to the module, the total included two toilets, two sinks, two faucets, three electric convectors, a water heater, three lamps, and two hand dryers. Thus, the installation of two toilets required more than seven million rubles.

In the proposed new version, the cost of two toilets, according to Zhivoglyadov, will be six million rubles.

“We are ready to announce an auction for six million rubles and give technical specifications to the company that applies for the production of a modular toilet. If we take the module that we are now offering, we are in the six million range. At least they have to enter,” the official noted.

The module will remain externally the same as the previous version, but the interior will change.

“London type toilet, that’s what the model is called. We decided that the appearance of the module would be the same everywhere, so that there would be no “Swan, Crayfish and Pike”. According to the new project, the frame of the modular toilet is the same, but the fundamental difference is that we decided not to crash into ready-made systems. And, let’s say, make several proposals regarding Mikhailovskaya Grove. The first is the anti-vandal inside, what they asked me, yes, steel, perforated, everything. Here are all the conditions, design solutions, metal floors, anti-vandal automatic doors, electrical equipment, a section for people with limited mobility, which is not provided in any modular toilet in the city. Secondly, as part of the installation, it is proposed to carry out work on drilling a well under water, that is, we carry out drilling and it turns out to be cheaper than cutting into the network and then paying for it; use of mobile antiseptic; cesspool. If we use it, then we need to make it very deep so that we can pump it not once a day, but once a week/week and a half,” said Zhivoglyadov.

According to Alexander Zhivoglyadov, in addition to the six million cost of toilets, the fee for technological connection to electrical networks averages 55 thousand rubles, and the average cost of one meter of connection to street outdoor lighting networks is 13-18 thousand rubles.

“We studied the issue in Perm, where they have these “Londons”, several, there are also not many of them, we studied the issue in Vladimir and Kemerovo, where such toilets also exist. Pricing policy – from 874 thousand to 6 million rubles. 874 thousand – an ordinary module, ordinary toilets, sinks, the cheapest thing that can be used,” he said.

Zhivoglyadov noted that it is assumed that visiting the toilets will be free: “I cannot say whether they are paid or free, but if it is for municipal money, I assume that we will give it to the SAKh and someone will outsource it. On Burevestnik it’s free. Accordingly, if we build, we assume that it will be free.”

The timing of the installation of toilets has not yet been determined. According to Zhivoglyadov, specialists are ready to prepare technical specifications within ten days, after which the administration will be able to announce an auction.

Regarding private toilets in the city, he noted that Tomsk cannot take them into municipal ownership so that the facilities both work and are free.

“A relative there will now take over the property, a dialogue can be started. The man died, now it’s being conveyed that there’s no way to conduct a dialogue,” said the head of the department.