After years of public complaints and government threats to cancel its contract, Phnom Penh’s sole garbage collector appears to be cleaning up its act.

In May, Cintri extended contracts for the four districts it has been responsible for since its main contract was signed in 2002 – Daun Penh, Prampi Makara, Chamkarmon and Toul Kork – with stipulations the company stick to a cleaning schedule, and assign a certain number of workers and trucks to each area.

With the program considered a success thus far, Cintri was given four new districts last week – Russey Keo, Por Sen Chey, Meanchey and Sen Sok – with four more to potentially come in September, according to City Hall spokesman Mean Chanyada.

“The agreements give us details about what the roles of the districts are and what the company is doing, so that prevents blaming one another for failures,” Chanyada said.

“The districts can [now] disseminate the information about the rubbish collecting program. This is a big issue.”

The documents, however, do not include contract timeframes, nor would officials provide details of potential consequences should Cintri fail to live up to its pledges.

In addition, the governor said in a statement the city would cover losses Cintri might incur from households not paying, provided “the service is good and the capital is trash-free”.