Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ19: Cleansing and renovation of public toilets

Following is a question by Ir. Dr. the Hon. Raymond Ho chung-tai and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment and Food, Mrs Lily Yam, in the Legislative Council meeting today (May 22):

Question

The Administration has contracted out some public toilets cleansing services to private cleaning companies and works are being undertaken to renovate older public toilets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the number of public toilets cleansed by private contractors and the criteria for selecting such contractors;

(b) of the daily frequency of toilet cleansing required of private contractors, and whether it knows the measures adopted by such contractors to monitor their staff's performance and frequency of toilet cleansing;

(c) whether a comparison has been made between public toilets cleansed by government departments and those by private contractors in terms of their daily cleansing frequency, cleanliness, hygiene conditions and measures to monitor staff's performance of toilet cleansing; if so, of the results of the comparison;

(d) of the progress of the renovation works on public toilets and the expected completion dates of such works; and

(e) whether it plans to allocate additional resources for renovating public toilets and keeping them clean and hygienic; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Answer

(a) Out of the 2,594 public toilets managed by government departments, cleansing services of 2,532 toilets have been contracted out to private contractors.

Government departments have all along been following the established tendering mechanism and procedures. Through a fair, open and equitable tendering system, suitable private companies have been selected to deliver the outsourced services. Tender requirements and marking systems of the tender assessment vary according to the specific needs of each type of public toilets, but the main criteria in assessing tenders are service quality and tender prices. To assess the quality of services, departments will consider the size of the tendering companies, the equipment and the number of workers they can provide, their work experiences and track records, the workers' wages and working hours, the availability of additional manpower in case of emergency, the management of the companies, the allocation of work and contingency plans, etc.

(b) The daily frequency of toilet cleansing depends on the location and the usage rate of the toilets concerned. In general, the frequency of toilet cleansing ranges from one to six times each day. If necessary, departments will require the contractor to clean the toilets more frequently. The contractors will also be required to assign in peak hours attendants at toilets with high usage rate to provide instant cleansing services. To ensure that the workers employed by the contractors perform the cleansing duties as required, both the contractor and the departments conduct regular inspections of the toilets and the departments also conduct surprise checks.

(c) In general, the toilet cleansing services provided by departmental staff and those provided by private contractors are more or less the same in terms of cleansing frequency, cleanliness, hygiene conditions and supervision.

(d) Since its establishment, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has been very active in renovating public toilets. At present, 43 toilets have already been renovated. Of the renovation works projects on public toilets launched in 2001/02, 64 have yet to be completed and 35 will be completed between September and October this year. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has undertaken seven renovation works projects on public toilets, scheduled for completion in the middle of this year. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has undertaken renovation works projects on 36 public toilets in country parks, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2003. No special renovation works have been arranged for public toilets in the public housing estates managed by the Housing Department (HD). Appropriate maintenance or renovation works will be carried out by HD depending on the condition and actual needs of individual public toilets.

(e) In 2002/03, the FEHD will continue to renovate another 60 public toilets at a cost of about $120 million. FEHD will allocate, on average, an additional $6 million to strengthen public toilet cleansing services in each of the coming two years. AFCD will increase its expenditure on public toilet cleansing by $1.2 million. LCSD plans to launch a total of 20 renovation works projects on public toilets at an estimated cost of $33 million. HD does not need to specially allocate additional resources for renovation as public toilets form part of the facilities in the public housing estates. Renovation works will be carried out as and when they are required.

Wednesday, May 22, 2002