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City Plans High-Tech Toilet Upgrade

The Moscow city government announced a tender Monday to provide equipment for real time monitoring of public toilets, in line with the global celebration of World Toilet Day, Interfax reported.

Moscow's housing and utilities department has published an open contest on the state purchasing website to find a company that will equip the city's public washrooms with communications systems and electronic locks. The equipment will be installed in 148 stationary toilets and 35 portable toilets around the city.

According to the order criteria, the equipment to be installed includes electronic locks that will provide information on whether the toilet is in use or not, the status of its functionality and a two-way communication channel. It was not immediately clear if the city has or is setting up an operations center to process the information to be provided.

The equipment must be vandal-proof and able to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 25 to plus 55 degrees Celsius, as well as operate autonomously for at least three hours.

The city is offering to pay up to 9.3 million rubles ($293,563) to the winning contestant who meets all of these conditions and can equip the public washrooms with the control systems by Dec. 20.

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