The Riyadh municipality has heeded complaints about random garbage bins placed in the middle of the road in the Al-Malaz neighborhood in the Saudi capital.

It has also assigned workers to clean these garbage bins, which used to be eyesores since they used to be smudged with dirt, since garbage is collected at night, or covered with dust blown by the winds.

One of the eight cleaners assigned in the area introduced himself as Mohammed, telling this reporter on Wednesday that he was assigned to clean a number of garbage containers in the street, gesturing toward the area that he was assigned to clean up, adding that the others were assigned elsewhere.

This is in stark contrast to the attitude of other night time garbage collectors, who seldom have the time to talk to residents in the area, probably because they are sleepy or in a hurry to finish their job.

Moreover, the roads in the neighborhood have also become bright at night, with the completion of the installation of electric lampposts.

“The area now is as bright as a park at night because of the electric light on the road ,” said Eric P. Asi, an engineer at Nardeen Lighting.

Residents used to complain about the nuisance of digging operations taking place in the area to install steel lampposts for electric lighting. These works caused traffic jams at certain times of the day, especially during peak hours.