Restrooms unusable, say Corniche visitors

Regular visitors to the Doha Corniche are complaining of lack of toilet facilities after the only restroom facility in the area became

unusable.

The modern facility, near the Orry statue, became operational in the summer of 2008 and actually came as a relief to thousands of visitors to the scenic bay.

“Because it remained unused for weeks, the place is now becoming a dumping ground for empty bottles and other garbage,” a regular visitor told Gulf Times.

“You can see bottles strewn around filled with urine,” he added.

The facility with separate men’s and women’s sections has stairs - and an elevator for physically-challenged -leading down.

Inside are three restrooms in each section and as many wash basins.

The restrooms, when installed, were so high-tech that they came with instructions on how to use them.

The capsule-like doors had signs “vacant”, “occupied”, “cleaning” or “closed”.

The users would push a green button following which the door would automatically open. The maximum time of use for each visit was capped at 15 minutes after which the door would automatically open.

Another sign would read: “This toilet is automatically cleaned and disinfected after each visit.”

However, the place is a mess now.

An official said two of the restrooms in the men’s and one in the women’s sections broke down a month-and-a-half ago.

“Work has been going on to fix the problem,” the official said.

Adding to the trouble, the computerised operating chip of one toilet in each section has become corrupted.

“New motherboards for these toilets have been ordered. They have to come from Sweden. It will take about 15 days for them to reach here,” the official said.

“The others will be opened to public during this week,” he added.

The only other option for visitors to Corniche is to go across the road and use the facilities at the Rumailah Park.