With Indian help, first public toilets for Afghanistan

“If it works in India, it will work in Kabul.” For the administration of Afghanistan, being associated with “something that works in India...

“If it works in India, it will work in Kabul.”

For the administration of Afghanistan, being associated with “something that works in India” is a huge compliment. And in Kabul Square, the men crowd curiously around the formal inauguration of a public toilet complex. Public toilets are an amenity the city has never had. The first five functional ones located at strategic points, like Sarai Shyamoli, Farosh Gah, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH) and Deh Afghan of Kabul have been built by the NGO Sulabh, in collaboration with the Indian Government.

Around 5,000 people are already using the five complexes everyday.

These self-sustaining toilet complexes attempt to provide something the Taliban had snatched from Afghan women: security, and a space that can be accessed anytime. The toilets, run on ground water supply — most areas do not have piped water —- will also utilise excrement to produce biogas (to be used for heating water and toilet lights) and treated water which can be used as fertiliser.

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Interestingly, India has had its own chequered tryst with biogas, often opposed as a cooking fuel. In Kabul, it’s the caretakers of the toilets who are currently using biogas as a cooking fuel, a trend the administration hopes will be picked up by others.

“We are interested in a functional city in Kabul,” said Q Djallalzada, Deputy Minister, Urban Development.

The shift from the hammam (an Arabic word for bath) to the simple Sulabh blocks is an immense one. During the Taliban rule, women went to relieve themselves only at night. Recognising the need for a private space for the woman which can be accessed publicly, the complexes also have rooms for lactating mothers.

According to data compiled in 2002, an estimated 13 per cent of the total population has access to safe water. Only 8 per cent of the country’s population has access to appropriate sanitation facilities, with the coverage being 16 per cent in urban areas and 5 per cent in rural areas.

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The toilets also have a bathing facility, said Rohullah Aman, Mayor of Kabul. “India is a big democracy and is even helping us build our new Parliament. We hope that the Ambassador of India will offer us more assistance on more projects,” he added.

The toilets have been customised for Kabul. “We have constructed the biogas digesters 4 feet below ground level to maintain the temperature conditions even in winter,” said Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh.

Meanwhile, each toilet has a ramp, so that it can be used by disabled people as well, a grim reminder of the conflict situation in the city.