Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: Last year, my Sengkang colleague Assoc Prof Jamus Lim elucidated that pricey coffee shop rents form part of the recipe for expensive hawker food. Likewise, hawkers operating from hawker centres face significant pressures from high and rising rents, causing them much financial strain and, inevitably, many may have to raise their food prices – albeit grudgingly, for many well-meaning hawkers.
As of 2021, the median monthly rent was $1,250 for non-subsidised stalls in NEA-operated hawker centres and $2,000 for stalls in privately-operated hawker centres under the Socially Conscious Enterprise Hawker Centre scheme. These pricier rents could likely be due to the operator passing through the high-bids placed during a tender, such as a successful bid of over $6 million for the operation of the recently-opened Buangkok Hawker Centre, onto stallholders.
Hence, by bringing all centres under NEA control, the costs for our stallholders could be better managed or even reduced, whilst keeping menu prices affordable. Good food stalls in NEA-operated hawker centres also face elevated rents – with tender documents revealing that the median winning bid for January to November 2023 was approximately $1,700 with some stalls even fetching over $6,000 in rent, such as the case for the highest-ever $6,810 per month rental for Newton Food Centre hawker stall.
With the introduction of a rental cap for this year’s Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar, perhaps a similar idea could be implemented for stalls in NEA-operated hawker centres or even other Government-leased properties, such as HDB eating houses as well; instead of a purely price-based tender where hawker stalls are simply awarded to the highest bidder. With the rising cost of living hitting Singaporeans hard, measures ought to be in place to ameliorate the financial pressures experienced by hawkers whilst ensuring the affordability of hawker food for all.
Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment
4 March 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2370
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 