NEA to do stock-take of social enterprise hawker centres, will take action against errant players

SINGAPORE — Amid an ongoing furore over charges imposed at social enterprise hawker centres, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor has tasked the National Environment Agency (NEA) to conduct a stock-take of the social enterprise model.

Errant operators will be taken to task, she warned.

In a post on her Facebook page on Friday (Oct 19), Dr Khor said she has asked the agency to “quickly iron out the problems”, especially on costs and contractual terms used by operators.

The NEA is working closely with operators and hawkers to address these issues, and “will not hesitate to take operators to task if they are found to be errant”, she said.

Dr Khor also revealed that the agency is reviewing contractual agreements between operators and hawkers. It is looking to prescribe some of the terms used by operators in tenancy contracts.

TODAY is asking the NEA when it might complete its assessment.

The social enterprise model has only been in place for three years, with the last two hawker centres — including Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre — only opening this year, said Dr Khor. The Government has been monitoring and evaluating the model in order to further refine and improve it, she said.

Currently, 13 out of 114 hawker centres across the island are managed by five social enterprise entities: Fei Siong Food Management, NTUC Foodfare, Timbre Group, Hawker Management under Koufu, and OTHM under Kopitiam. Seven of the centres were built within the last decade.

In recent weeks, the social enterprise model of managing hawker centres has come under scrutiny. Observers such as food critic and consultant K F Seetoh, as well as some hawkers operating in these centres, have raised concerns over high rentals and additional fees, low footfall and an apparent lack of transparency on why certain fees are imposed.

After being roundly criticised for making hawkers pay for customers’ tray returns, Koufu’s social enterprise subsidiary Hawker Management said on Thursday it would make customers at Jurong West Hawker Centre pay a 20-cent returnable deposit instead.

Several hawkers had earlier petitioned against the 20-cent charge per tray, saying that the practice was costing them up to S$900 per month and causing arguments with patrons who took more trays than necessary.

In her Facebook post, Dr Khor said that having the social enterprises run hawker centres is one way the authorities are trying to “address the many challenges of the hawker trade such as renewal and manpower constraints, and at the same time meet the evolving dining needs of residents”.

These social enterprises are given some flexibility to try “different ideas and innovative practices”.

“We will continue to fine-tune the management model, to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans — patrons and hawkers — and achieve the objective of ensuring that Singaporeans have access to affordable food and hawkers can make a decent living,” she wrote.

Last month, during a visit to Our Tampines Hub Hawker Centre, which is run by OTHM under Kopitiam, Dr Khor told reporters that there was room to improve the model and that the authorities would see how to adjust and refine it.

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