SINGAPORE — Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said the Workers’ Party should “clean up the place” and apologise to the hawkers involved in the dispute over the cleaning of high areas at two Bedok North food centres, after which he would be “happy” to sit down for coffee with WP chief Low Thia Khiang.

Dr Balakrishan said this after Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) Vice-Chairman Pritam Singh on Monday invited him to a dialogue over the tussle, saying Dr Balakrishnan’s allegations that the AHPETC was untruthful in its account of the dispute were “uncalled for”.

When queried by reporters yesterday, Dr Balakrishnan said: “I would say, at this point in time, my advice to the Workers’ Party is to clean up the place, apologise to the hawkers. After the place is clean, the hawkers, NEA (National Environment Agency) and I will be inspecting the quality of work.

“At that point in time, I would be happy to invite Mr Low Thia Khiang for a cup of coffee with me ... and to do so with the hawkers present.”

The saga began last month after it was reported that hawkers at two food centres in Bedok North — at Block 511 and 538 — complained that they were told by the AHPETC to bear the cost of putting up scaffolding to clean high areas in the food centres.

In the ensuing war of words, the NEA accused the AHPETC of trying to get the hawkers to pay extra cleaning costs, and then trying to “deflect blame” when that failed. The AHPETC, which later announced it would cover the full cost of cleaning, including scaffolding for all food centres under its management, denied this, saying the NEA’s words were “politically motivated”.

Both sides have also released documents which they said supported their sides of the story.