By Jessica Lim, Chong Ning Qian, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2012
SEVEN towns - Bukit Panjang, Pasir Ris, Tampines, Yishun, Woodlands, Jurong West and Punggol - have been earmarked for the building of new hawker centres.
They were selected based on the current number of cooked food stalls in the area, growth of the town and land use adjacent to the sites.
Construction of the hawker centre in Bukit Panjang will start in the second half of this year. It will have an adjoining wet market and is expected to be completed within three years.
The other six hawker centres will be built within the next five years. A decision on whether they will have wet markets will be made later.
Each new hawker centre will have 40 to 60 cooked food stalls.
Senior Minister of State (Environment and Water Resources) Grace Fu said yesterday: 'In the year ahead, we will be consulting closely with members and grassroots on the new centres that will be built.'
She stressed that the design and development of these new centres 'should be informed by the views of the people they will serve'.
'Hawker centres are more than just places for affordable food. They are also important common spaces that cultivate the sense of community,' she said.
The topic of new hawker centres got several Members of Parliament excited yesterday, with some, like Mr Cedric Foo (Pioneer), asking for hawker centres to be built in their constituencies.
The topic of new hawker centres got several Members of Parliament excited yesterday, with some, like Mr Cedric Foo (Pioneer), asking for hawker centres to be built in their constituencies.
Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland- Bukit Timah GRC) also called on the authorities to speed up the construction of these hawker centres, suggesting 20 centres in five years rather than 10 in 10 years, which he said is 'too few and too long'.
Meanwhile, residents living near the sites of the new hawker centres welcomed the announcement.
Financial consultant Khaimssufi Rafa'ee, 35, said: 'A hawker centre would be great because it has more variety.'
Hawkers are also eager to snap up the new stalls. Mr Seah Por Seng, 45, who owns a kway chap stall at Punggol Field Food Centre and pays $5,000 in monthly rent, said that with lower rent, 'prices of our dishes can be lower too'.
No more subletting for stallholders
Rule change aims to cut costs and lower food prices
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2012
THERE will be no more subletting of hawker and wet market stalls.
Rule change aims to cut costs and lower food prices
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2012
The rule change kicks in for new stallholders on April 1, while current stallholders have three years to adjust.
The move is expected to stabilise rental, reduce costs for stallholders and make food more affordable, said Senior Minister of State (Environment and Water Resources) Grace Fu.
She also announced the locations of seven hawker centres to be built over the next five years.
During the debate on her ministry's budget, three Members of Parliament called for controls on stall subletting.
The Hawker Centre Public Consultation Panel, set up last November to advise the Government on the building of the new hawker centres, had made the same call.
Yesterday, Ms Fu agreed, saying: 'Hawker stalls were set up to provide an opportunity for Singaporeans to run their own small business. (Thus) we agree that stalls should be personally run, and should not be used for profiteering.'
Hawkers who rented stalls at market rate from the Government had, until this change, been able to sublet the stall to another tenant, often at a higher price. The hawker then kept the difference.
The practice is believed to have pushed hawker stall rents above $6,000 a month in some cases, contributing to an increase in cooked food prices. The Government's market rate rental for a cooked food stall ranges from $300 to $4,900 a month.
There are currently 107 government-owned wet markets and hawker centres in Singapore, with 15,000 stalls between them.
The rule change will affect only non-subsidised stalls - which account for 58 per cent of the total. It is illegal for subsidised stallholders to sublet their stalls.
The practice of assigning, where stallholders make permanent transfers of stalls to new tenants for one-time fees, has also been scrapped. Such fees can go up to $300,000.
Ms Fu also announced a new policy for 'joint tenancy'. That means each stall can have two tenants, as long as each stallholder personally operates the stall for at least four hours a day - with no full-day subletting.
These changes mean that from April 1, the only routes to secure sole tenancy of a hawker stall are directly from the Government through a tender, or allocation under a walk-in scheme.
Another change is that the reserve rent, or the minimum rent the Government imposes when it rents out stalls through its tender scheme, will be removed. Vacant stalls will be allocated to the highest bidder even if the price is low, as long as there is more than one bid.
Ms Fu said the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources is also keen to explore the idea of having a social enterprise or cooperative manage the new hawker centres. That was a proposal of the consultation panel chaired by entrepreneur Elim Chew.
The ministry is currently assessing the suitability of various management models.
Plans are also afoot to improve hawker centre hygiene and cleaning. From June, the ministry will publish detailed information on hygiene lapses by food operators. It will adjust the grades of hawker stalls promptly after verified poisoning cases.
On the cleaning of hawker centres, the ministry is looking into having the National Environment Agency (NEA) take over from hawker associations. Two MPs asked about the problem of dirty tables at hawker centres.
Later, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan responded to MPs' suggestions to regulate food mix and pricing at hawker centres. Dr Balakrishnan said that such decisions should 'be done at the local level'.
'I don't want, on a ministry level, to be overly prescriptive,' he said, adding that stalls need to be viable businesses.
News of the changes announced in Parliament yesterday has trickled down to stallholders.
Madam Linda Teo, 47, who sublets her stall at Mayflower Food Centre in Ang Mo Kio, is glad for the three-year grace period.
A hawker for 28 years, she charges her tenant $1,800 a month, about $800 more than the amount she pays NEA.
'It's good I still have time to decide. It would be bad if I had to take the stall back immediately,' said Madam Teo, who sublet the store only last year.
'I will think about operating the stall myself,' she added.
No-subletting rule: Some hawkers may quit
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012
MR NEO Chai Hock has run a hotplate barbecue fish stall in a Whampoa Drive hawker centre for the past 11 years. The 57-year-old has many regulars who snap up the bulk of the 400 plates he sells daily.
But he does not own the stall; he rents it from someone else, who in turn rents it from the Government.
Hawkers like Mr Neo may have to call it quits over the next three years.
A no-subletting rule, announced in Parliament on Tuesday, will kick in for new stallholders on April 1, while current ones have three years to adjust.
Those who rent stalls at market rates from the Government have, until this move, been able to sublet, often at higher prices. The original tenant, or 'landlord', kept the difference.
According to market associations, sublet stalls make up less than 30 per cent of all government hawker stalls. The remaining stalls are rented directly from the Government through tenders or walk-in allocations.
Stallholders who enjoy subsidised rentals from the Government are not allowed to sublet, while the handful of owner-occupied stalls - whose leases run out in the next few years - can continue to do so.
There is demand for stalls from those who sublet, as these are usually in better locations. The practice of subletting is believed to have pushed hawker stall rents above $6,000 a month in some cases, leading to higher cooked-food prices.
The Government's market-rate rental for a cooked-food stall ranges from $300 to $4,900 a month.
The change leaves landlords with several options. They can return the stalls to the Government, run the stalls themselves or enter into joint tenancies - sharing the stall with another tenant, with each working at least four hours a day.
Those who operate stalls that are sublet are weighing their options. Said Mr Neo, who pays $2,000 a month in rent: 'It's hard to find a new good location. Some hawker centres get few customers and we took years to build up regulars.'
Mr Poh Reng Chuan, 65, who manages a rice stall in a Toa Payoh hawker centre, is likely to call it quits in three years. 'I shall retire. I'm too old to run the business,' he said.
Those who sublet are mourning the loss of their income.
The 'landlord' of a stall at a Kovan hawker centre rents it out for $3,000 a month, but pays the Government only $1,000.
The jobless man, who wants to be known only as Mr Eng, supports his 80-year-old mother with the money. 'Do the authorities know what we are going through?' asked the 49-year-old.
Mr Tan Chek Bock, 65, who owns a fruit stall in Hougang, sublet it a few months ago. 'I am old and don't want to operate the stall anymore,' he said, adding that he makes a profit of about $2,000 in rent each month. 'Many hawkers like me are old people.'
Stricter hygiene standards for food stalls soon
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2012
FROM June, food stalls linked to food poisoning incidents will be immediately 'downgraded'.
That means that the grade of the food retail outlet will be revised downwards, should initial investigations show likely cause. Outlets with an existing 'A' or 'B' grade, for instance, will be downgraded to a 'C' grade, while a 'C' grade will be bumped to a 'D'.
This tightening of hygiene standards comes in the wake of a spate of food poisoning cases.
Currently, hawkers are not downgraded even after investigations show that their food made people fall sick. Instead, they are given demerit points.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) hands out two, four, and six demerit points to minor, major and serious offences, respectively.
Any operator who chalks up 12 points in 12 months will have his licence suspended or revoked depending on past records.
Under the new system, the offending food stall will be reviewed after three months. Thorough investigations into food poisoning instances can take days to weeks to complete. NEA may reinstate the food stall's previous grading if it is satisfied with the stall's performance.
By June, the latest grades of the 34,000 NEA-licensed food outlets - hawker, coffee shop and food court stalls, restaurants and cafes - as well as their accumulated demerit points, will be published on the agency's website.
Consumers will also be able to access the database through the statutory board's myENV mobile application.
Currently, only information on food caterers is available online to the public.
'Both measures are being introduced to provide consumers with more current information on the hygiene condition of food retail outlets to help consumers make better informed choices when eating out,' said an NEA spokesman.
Last year, there were 19 food poisoning incidents each affecting 10 people or more at eateries licensed by NEA.
In one case, 271 children and teachers from 10 preschools fell ill after eating a pasta meal prepared by a local caterer.
The current hygiene grading system, introduced in 2002, has worked well. The proportion of 'A' and 'B' graded food outlets has increased steadily from 58 per cent from the beginning to 95 per cent last year.
Hawkers say the new measures add pressure on them to maintain hygiene standards.
'This means that everyone can go online and check my grading,' said Mr Melvin Soh, 28, owner of a kaya toast and coffee stall at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre which is graded 'B'.
'I will pay more attention to hygiene from now on.'
Hawker centre panel has heart in right place
Its core proposals will help keep rent and hence food prices down
By Huang Lijie, The Straits Times, 6 Mar 2012
IMAGINE a hawker centre that is a lively community space. Buskers serenade you as you enter. You leave your children in the adjoining centre. Smiling hawkers prepare cheap, good food, thanks to below-market rental. They are assisted by able-bodied as well as the mentally disabled and other marginalised groups.
Its core proposals will help keep rent and hence food prices down
By Huang Lijie, The Straits Times, 6 Mar 2012
IMAGINE a hawker centre that is a lively community space. Buskers serenade you as you enter. You leave your children in the adjoining centre. Smiling hawkers prepare cheap, good food, thanks to below-market rental. They are assisted by able-bodied as well as the mentally disabled and other marginalised groups.
Oh, and your tar pau (takeaway) boxes will be made of biodegradable materials to save the environment.
That, in a nutshell, is the vision of the hawker centre. After much fanfare, an 18-member public consultation panel on hawker centres announced the fruit of their four-month-long deliberations last week.
The panel was set up last November to advise the Government on how to run the 10 new hawker centres which will be built over the next 10 years. This came after the Government stopped building hawker centres for 26 years. The panel is now seeking more views on its proposals before submitting its final recommendation to the Government at the end of the month.
If the panel has its way, what will not change is that hawker centres of the future will continue to be paid for and owned by the Government. The National Environment Agency (NEA) will continue to be the regulator.
What will change: Rather than tender out the stalls to individual operators, a not-for-profit operator such as a social enterprise or cooperative will run the centre. It will determine tenant mix and use of space and have leeway to set rental rates, and invite 'operators with credentials' to run them.
What do Singaporeans think of the proposals? A poll of 100 people a day after the recommendations were released showed that while they - politely - welcomed the suggestions to have buskers, childcare centres and so on, most just wanted hawker centres to provide good food (48); be clean (21); and be conveniently located (19). Factors like the centre's ambience and environment trailed far behind.
Not surprisingly, some people asked if the panel has forgotten the core objective of hawker centres - good, affordable food in a clean centre - and whether it is too ambitious with plans to transform the new hawker centres into iconic, gracious and vibrant community spaces.
For example, some asked if it is feasible to have childcare centres in a food centre, which has to comply with strict health and safety codes. Others asked if buskers will add to the clamour and din. And won't hiring the disabled make it more inefficient and add costs to operating a hawker stall?
These views are valid, and the NEA will have to evaluate the recommendations carefully before deciding what to adopt.
To be fair to the panel, however, the heart of its proposals, stripped of all the lofty ideas about creating vibrant community spaces, is perfectly sound.
Its key recommendation is for a non-profit operator to set the rent and run the centres. This means hawker centres will not become like commercial coffee shops, which have become valuable tradeable assets. Prices of coffee shops have risen, driving up rentals of individual stalls and prices of cooked food.
A non-profit operator will not chase such profit. Hawker centres will remain places for stall operators to sell food, not land assets for investors to buy and sell for rental yield, as coffee shops are at risk of becoming.
The panel also wants to scrap the NEA's current method of leasing out most stalls to the highest bidder. Instead, the non-profit operator will determine the rental rate, to be pegged at a certain percentage discount of the assessed value. This bold move will moderate rent and help keep food prices down.
The non-profit centre manager can retain influence over individual stall owners to keep prices down and food quality up, and take action against stall owners who try to circumvent the rules.
Another bold and correct proposal is to disallow stalls to be sub-let, or transferred. Instead, stall operators who want to give up the business will have to return their stalls to NEA.
This measure curbs rent-seeking behaviour from people who tender for stalls to rent out to others at a higher price. Some stall owners now also demand a high 'takeover fee' for assigning the stalls to others.
Taken together, the panel's ideas will reduce the incentive to profiteer from hawker stalls, focusing stall operators' minds on running the food business.
But there are some imponderables ahead. One obvious question is how the non-profit operator will generate income to sustain itself and the operation of the centre. The panel thinks the operator can rely on the leasing of advertising and event space as additional revenue streams. But how viable is this really?
The other big unknown is whether there is any such not-for-profit social enterprise that will step up to the plate to run the new hawker centres. After all, such an entity does not yet exist in the local food and beverage or social enterprise scene, even though NTUC Foodfare Cooperative does manage eight foodcourts and five coffee shops. Hopefully, when the first new-generation hawker centre is built in three years in Bukit Panjang, a social enterprise would be formed and ready to take on the challenge.
The panel has strong ideas for how to run the new-generation hawker centres.
The panel - and the public - should not be unduly distracted by the peripheral ideas that are interesting but really just frills.
The panel should focus public attention on its core proposals to nip profiteering, and flesh them out to cement the feasibility of its recommendations.
The panel - and the public - should not be unduly distracted by the peripheral ideas that are interesting but really just frills.
The panel should focus public attention on its core proposals to nip profiteering, and flesh them out to cement the feasibility of its recommendations.
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