In response to angry citizens here complaining of mounting waste in their neighborhoods, the Eastern Province Municipality has claimed that it has sorted out the problem with the new cleaning contractor.

Mohammad Al-Safyan, spokesman for the municipality, said it was normal for a new contractor to have problems at the start of a project because workers have to get accustomed to getting to locations and gaining experience.

Most of the problems have been resolved, with the contractor providing 72 workers in the first few days, then 90 workers and now 130. There would be 162 workers deployed within the next two weeks, he said.

The hygiene situation has now improved considerably, with few complaints from the public. The municipality was committed to a clean and safe environment for residents, said Al-Safyan.

However, some citizens in Abqaiq claim that nothing much has changed and urged the municipality to do more.

Abdullah Al-Harbi said his neighborhood is dirty and he has not seen any workers removing the waste, which has now caused a foul odor.

Abdullah Al-Yami said there was mounting waste in his neighborhood that has attracted stray dogs. There are also no workers cleaning up, he claimed.

Nawaf Al-Isaimi said he was upset and accused the contractor of failing to carry out the work for which he had been paid. There is waste accumulating outside many houses in his area, he said.

Faisal Al-Shammari accused the municipality of not caring about citizens because no waste has been removed from his neighborhood.