NEW DELHI: The city may not have enough public toilets, but for Commonwealth Games, Municipal Corporation of Delhi is planning `7-star' ones for visitors.

The civic agency is proposing to construct 300 such toilets which will be so clean that you will be tempted to sit comfortably on the sofas inside and enjoy an ice-cream, according to MCD officials. These blocks will also consist of coffee shops, flower shops and fast-food joints.

According to MCD, 76 brands have already approached them for this project and they are willing to pay a year's rent in advance to take up space here. These toilets blocks will come up in market areas like South Extension, GK-I, Defence Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh etc and the civic agency will begin work on these toilet blocks within two months.

Said additional deputy commissioner remunerative projects cell Amiya Chandra: "Developers having a brand value of Rs 5,000 crore and above will construct these toilet blocks which will be better than the ones you have in 5-star hotels (hence 7-star). There will be coffee shops, fast-food joints etc within the same block. Housekeeping work will also be privatised. MCD will have little or no role to play in the functioning of these blocks. The developers will also maintain these toilet blocks for a period of 20 years.'' These toilet blocks will be made on built-operate-and-transfer basis.

The concept behind having coffee shops and eating joints functioning from within the block is that for their business to do well, the developers will have to ensure that the toilets are well-maintained. According to MCD, food courts in most malls are also built near toilets areas for this reason.

Said MCD commissioner K S Mehra: "The idea is to give the responsibility of running these toilet blocks to a company with an established brand image. This way, he will ensure cleanliness of these toilet blocks to ensure that he makes money out of this venture while ensuring that his reputation is not affected. People will only come in to have coffee here if there is no foul odour in the surrounding area. We will also allow advertising on these blocks for revenue generation besides being paid a certain amount by the developer of these blocks. They will be ready in record time much before Commonwealth Games.''

The cost of constructing one such block will be Rs 1 crore. The toilets will not have doors but transparent shutters. Various vending machines to take care of all your conveniences and an odo-meter to keep a check on foul smells will be installed. Said Chandra: "The design and choice of material will be done to ensure minimum consumption of electricity and water. There are existing toilets blocks in some markets while new ones will be built in others in varied sizes large, medium, small depending on space availability. People will be charged Rs 2 for using the toilet while regular users have the option of buying a toilet card.''

The MCD claims that their earlier plan of giving maintenance of these blocks to advertising agencies was not successful as the companies were only interested in advertising space outside the toilets. The civic agency had also come up with waterless toilets and had suggested making power from the urea released from these toilets. There are 1500-odd community toilet blocks in the city.