618 Family Toilets Built in Dompu to End Open Defecation
A total of 618 family toilets have been built across eight villages in Hu’u District, Dompu Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, enabling residents to stop defecating in the open. The family toilet programme run by PT Sumbawa Timur Mining (STM) has reached 2,472 beneficiaries. The toilets were built in stages starting from 2017 with a total programme value of around Rp4.3 billion.
STM Community Relations Manager Ulya Defretes said the programme supports efforts to create an area free from open defecation, known globally as Open Defecation Free (ODF). “This programme aims to support the Dompu Regency Government’s efforts to eliminate the practice of open defecation, or what is known as ‘Zero BABS’ in Hu’u District,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ulya explained that the family toilet programme prioritises vulnerable groups, including the elderly, female heads of household, orphaned families, and underprivileged families. Referring to 2025 data from the Dompu Central Statistics Agency, the number of beneficiaries is equivalent to approximately 11.15 percent of Hu’u District’s total population, indicating that expanding sanitation access remains a critical need in the area.
He added that the Dompu District Health Profile for 2024 recorded that 1,443 families, or 29.9 percent of families in Hu’u District, still lack access to proper sanitation. “This situation potentially leads residents to use rivers or open spaces for bathing, washing, and toilet purposes, which risks causing diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, and other infectious diseases,” he said.
One beneficiary, Juhra, 50, expressed gratitude for receiving toilet assistance from PT STM. Juhra, a female head of household in Rasabou Village who works as a farm labourer and babysits neighbours’ children with an irregular income, did not have the money to build her own toilet. “I am extremely happy after having to rely on neighbours’ houses and the river for so long to relieve myself. We really needed this assistance,” said Juhra. She and her family no longer depend on the river near her home. A 1.5-metre toilet has now been built beside her house.