The Commission of Audit carried out an audit on the occurence of movable lavatories being located for a long time in public and resting places of the Macao Special Administrative Region. The objective is to study whether such arrangements are cost-effective and whether improvements can be made. The results of the audit are as follows:

1. 33 movable lavatories were placed in 18 public and resting places of Macao SAR in 2001, approximately MOP 1,000,000 is needed for their maintenance and management every year.

2. No fixed lavatories are set for the three resting places (Arts Garden, Lotus Square and Barrier Gate) chosen in the audit, movable lavatories were placed in these places in February, June and October of 2000 to meet actual needs. Approximately MOP 357,000 was spent for the 10-month period until October 2001.

3. As the service results provided by the movable lavatories fail to measure up to the standards, the Commission of Audit considers relevant public fund was not properly used.

4. The municipal institutions (Provisional Macao Municipal Bureau and Provisional Islands Municipal Bureau, or former Macao Municipal Council and former Islands Municipal Council) fail to formulate a comprehensive plan to ensure the promotion of building and maintaining the public lavatory network (quoted from the original legal text, meaning distribution system) in accordance with the “Legal System for Municipal Areas” in Law No. 24/88/M dated October 3 and amended by Law No. 4/93/M dated July 5 and clauses of their respective organizational charters.

5. The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau fail to perform its functions conferred by its statute of organization to make proper follow-up measures for the insufficiency of public facilities due to unsound planning.

6. The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau fail to provide the designers with clear guidance on the facilities and equipments in such places, when outsourcing the design of the public and resting places.

7. During the whole process from planning, to building and to completion of the public and resting places, there is no communication between the departments responsible for the building and the departments responsible for subsequent management, including communication of opinions on the public sanitary facilities.

8. Due to the characteristics of the movable lavatories, the Commission of Audit suggests that they be used for temporary purposes; however, it is found in the audit that the municipal institutions does not set time limits for use of movable lavatories in public and resting places and have not make corresponding guidance.

Based on the abovementioned findings, the major suggestions of the Commission of Audit are as follows:

1. The municipal institutions shall make an overall planning of the public lavatory distribution system (network) in accordance with the provisions of relevant clauses in the “Legal Regime for Municipal Areas”.

2. The municipal institutions shall set the service period of the movable lavatories, and perform their function to supervise the quality and operation of the movable lavatories.

3. The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau shall strengthen its communication and coordination with the management departments when formulating plans for improving the environments, so that the final results can better meet the needs of the citizens.

4. When outsourcing construction works of the public and resting places, the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau shall provide the designers with clear guidance on the basic facilities in such places, including consideration on the needs of constructing lavatories.