The Sliema local council is contemplating bypassing its present rubbish collector and contracting another one following a flood of complaints by residents of a shoddy service.

Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech said the present service provider has received several warnings over the past months and the council was withholding percentages of his monthly fee because his service "left a lot to be desired". The three-year contract is due to expire this month.

Faced with this "emergency", he said, the council was considering the option of engaging another contractor to collect rubbish from the town's 117 roads.

Over the past months, the council received countless complaints from residents that their rubbish had not been collected or that it was being collected several hours after they had taken out the bags, increasing the possibility of strays ripping them up.

The young mayor said the council had been dealing with the complaints and had spoken to the contractor several times. However, verbal warnings were not enough. The council started withdrawing a percentage of his monthly fee - at first five per cent, then 10 per cent and, at present, 15 per cent. The contract specifies that the garbage has to be collected by 2 p.m. at the latest but on certain days, the rubbish was not collected or collected late.

However, the council cannot issue a new call for tenders for the time being pending the reform of the local councils.

The situation is so bad, however, that an interim solution had to be found, the mayor said.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com