Phnom Penh  - An errant waste disposal contractor which was failing to keep rubbish off the streets could soon find the uncollected garbage dumped in its office, the capital's governor said Thursday.

Kep Chuktema said he realized that the French-Khmer company Cintri had faced logistical problems and felt sorry for it, but his first duty was to the public so the company had until the end of the week to up its performance.

"Otherwise I will send municipal staff to collect the rubbish and order them to dump it in the Cintri headquarters," he said.

Cintri won a 49-year exclusive waste collection contract for the capital in 2002, but has failed to stop piles of rubbish accumulating across the city.

It has blamed flooded roads to the city's only dump, but Chuktema, known for his outspokenness and sometimes left-of-centre solutions to problems, says that isn't good enough, and says he is not joking.

In 2003, he called on the population to eat more dogs to solve a problem with strays on the streets. (dpa)