Chennai, Oct 29 (IANS): The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will build public toilets at 372 locations across the Tamil Nadu state capital.

The maintenance of these toilets will be conducted by contractors selected through a tender. The contract is for eight years.

GCC Secretary Gagan Singh Bedi said that the performance of the contractors will be properly monitored by a third-party evaluator.

There are, according to authorities, 26 indicators that will be considered while clearing the payment of the contractors and if they fall short in any of these indicators, the payment will be withheld.

The performance indicators, according to the GCC include clean premises, availability of mirrors, soaps, dispensers, sanitary napkins, among others.

The pilot project will commence soon with toilets coming up at Royapuram and Tiruvika Nagar zones, while 11 will be set up in Marina Beach.

C. Rajeev of the Centre for Policy and Development Studies, a city-based think tank and social organization, told IANS: "It is a welcome move. Every society should have good, clean toilets that people can use properly. Hope these toilets are properly maintained so that people won't hesitate to use them."