Food prices a criterion for stall bids at Bukit Panjang hawker centre

SINGAPORE — In what is a first, how much a hawker wants to charge for, say, a plate of chicken rice, will affect whether he clinches a stall.

Social enterprise NTUC Foodfare, which operates the new hawker centre in Bukit Panjang, is including selling price of food among its evaluation criteria of hawkers’ bids.

The move is to keep prices affordable at the hawker centre, which will open in 2015, said Foodfare Chief Executive Perry Ong. “Unlike the current tendering system, we will not be looking strictly at tender price. Affordability, the quality (of food), the concept of the stall will all be of weightage during the selection process,” he said at the hawker centre’s groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.

“Stall tenants will have to submit to us what are the prices they want to sell (food at), so we are almost assured the residents in Bukit Panjang will have affordable meals.”

High food prices, pushed up by higher rentals, came under the spotlight recently when a coffee shop on Hougang Avenue 4 reportedly traded hands at a record price of S$23.8 million. Following that sale, Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC Foo Mee Har asked in Parliament what safeguards the Government was putting in place to moderate potential rental increases for HDB coffee-shop tenants.

In April, a survey of 541 hawker stalls also showed that several popular dishes had become pricier across the island.

Mr Ong also said other concerns of Bukit Panjang residents — which it culled from a survey of 400 households — may be factored in during the tender, which is expected to be called in early 2015. For instance, residents had asked for longer opening hours.

When asked if NTUC Foodfare will set a baseline rental, Mr Ong said more details will be out when the tender is called.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who officiated at the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, also hinted that more hawker centres — beyond the 10 that have been announced will come on board by 2017 — could be set up.

“The Government has committed to building at least 10 more hawker centres, and I must tell you a secret, Mr Liang Eng Hwa is already in the queue asking for more,” he said. “No promises yet!”

Mr Liang, who is MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, had previously urged the Government to build 20 hawker centres in five years, instead of the 10 it has committed to. He told TODAY that he is in discussions with the NEA for a new hawker centre in the Senja area within his ward, but no timeline has been set.

The Bukit Panjang hawker centre, which will sit on a vacant site next to Block 259 Bukit Panjang Ring Road, is within walking distance of Bangkit and Pending LRT Stations. It will have 28 cooked food stalls, 14 market stalls and 15 lock-up stalls.

Construction of two other hawker centres is currently underway. Sited in Tampines and Hougang, they are integrated developments, co-located with the People Association’s new Community Clubs.

Meanwhile, Dr Teo Ho Pin, who is MP for Bukit Panjang SMC, also announced that a Neighbourhood Renewal Programme for three precincts — including where the new hawker centre is sited — will start as early as the end of next year.

Improvements such as covered walkways will be done, he said, and will take between two and three years.

“What’s important is to make it seamless, barrier-free, and elderly-friendly. (And also) to provide variety in terms of choices, as well as to provide accessibility in terms of car parks,” he added.

em> Correction at 11.50pm on Nov 6, 2013: The original story quoted Foodfare Chief Executive Perry Ong saying the hawker centre will open in the middle of next year. This is incorrect. The hawker centre will open in 2015.