Public toilets were among the list of complaints registered by Beijing residents on a new radio show last month.
The month-long dialogue program, organized by Beijing Public Service Radio, affliated to the Beijing People's Broadcasting Station, gives citizens and municipal government officials an opportunity to communicate directly on subjects pertaining to the host city of the 2008 Games.
One citizen commented anonymously by text message that public toilets still fall short of demand. "I heard that Beijing has constructed a great number in recent times but sometimes I still cannot find one," the message read.
The local government has repaired or built nearly 5,200 public toilets in the last three years. Olympic officials are also considering overhauling the facilities at Olympic venues to introduce Western-style sit-down toilets in a bid to better accommodate overseas visitors.
Beijing currently has more public toilets than any other city of its size worldwide. The problem is they are not clearly signposted and often difficult to find, said Lu Haijun, director of the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission.
"Moreover, many restaurants, shops and hotels are reluctant to open their restrooms to pedestrians," added Lu, who is also the director of the Beijing 2008 Environment HQ, and promised: "We are taking measures to tackle this problem. "
Xu Yanxia, who lives near the Olympic badminton venue, expressed concern about the city's environment.
"The bumpy road in front of my home has been paved by asphalt and is very clean now, but street cleaners still forget blind corners and some hutongs are still dirty. Things like this will catch tourists' attention during the Games."
One community leader asked where she would be able to display her Olympic handicrafts.
"We have a community program called 'Rainbow Workshop' but no platform to display these Olympic mascots and Chinese knots," she said.
