NEA will improve management model, review contracts of operators

We thank the writer for his letter, “NEA should not let hawker centre operator get away with setting ‘unfair’ agreements” (Oct 16).

As highlighted in the letter, the Government is building more hawker centres to enable residents to have access to affordable food. This is to be achieved even while allowing our hawkers to make a decent livelihood.

To balance the competing interests and address the renewal and productivity challenges facing the hawker trade, socially conscious enterprises were appointed to manage the new hawker centres on a not-for-profit basis.

Socially conscious enterprises would leverage their expertise in food-and-beverage and lease management, and introduce new ideas and innovative practices to achieve the social mission of hawker centres.

These operators are to provide access to affordable food, maintain high standards of cleanliness, enhance the vibrancy of the centre, and introduce productivity measures to help hawkers cope with manpower constraints.

For the model to work, the operators have some flexibility to employ different business strategies, with the authorities setting key parameters such as control on food prices.

The writer asked about the tray return reward system at Jurong West Hawker Centre. This is a new idea trialled by the operator to encourage customers to return their trays. If done well, an effective tray return system enables tables to be turned over faster, improves the overall cleanliness of the centre, and reduces table-cleaning cost for hawkers.

After receiving feedback, the operator at Jurong West Hawker Centre consulted with the hawkers and they jointly agreed to change its tray return system to a coin deposit one.

The writer also asked that the operating cost of hawkers be kept manageable so that they do not have to pass on the expenses to the customers.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is acutely aware of this. Ensuring access to affordable food in a clean and hygienic environment is a key objective of the new hawker centres, and this has largely been achieved.

As for cost to stallholders, NEA favours operators whose bids have a lower total cost to stallholders during the tender stage.  Operators are also not permitted to increase the stallholders’ rentals and operating costs for the duration of their tenancy. 

The recent discussions have centred on the cost and contractual terms of stallholders.

The implementation of the management model for new hawker centres is still at an early stage.

We will continue to improve the model, including reviewing the contractual agreements and prescribing some of the terms used by operators in these contracts.

Our aim is to ensure that Singaporeans have access to affordable food and hawkers earn a decent living so that our hawker culture can be sustained.