By Rocky
Recently, I called to enquire about the tendering of hawker stall of Our Tampines Hub that will be opened on November under the ‘new’ scheme.
I am extremely disappointed to find out that it will be managed by Kopitiam ’non-profit’ basis.
I was told that the stall will be mostly managed directly by Kopitiam and is not for tender.
The list of fees given to me shows that the fees are also much higher than average hawker stalls, plus, there are additional.
Licensee has to rent a POS system for S$100 – S$200 a month, and pays a facilities management fee that other hawker centers don’t have.
If this new scheme is for the benefit of average citizens, why is there so much above average fees?
Why is an enterprise given so much more space that they are free to manage themselves or give to their ‘select’ hawkers to operate without giving any detail of the selection process?
I am really sad as those terms are way too high and we are told to operate the stall ourselves and advised strongly to operate longer hours to have a good chance of getting selected; minimum selection on the forms is 12 hrs and the longest is 24 hrs. I am not sure if this is not a modern days slavery under the hood of so called social-enterprise.
The terms state clearly that the selection process is totally under the discretion of the company, not under National Environment Agency (NEA).
I wonder is there any supervision to ensure fairness for a government property built using tax payer money.
NEA announced In its news release on 15 September that the Hawker Centre at Our Tampines Hub is to open for business in November 2016. The hawker centre is to be operated by OTMH, a unit of food court operator Kopitiam.
NEA stated that OTMH’s proposal was selected following the evaluation of the seven proposals received for NEA’s call for tender for the management of the OTH hawker centre made in May 2016. It wrote that the proposal by OTMH showed a strong emphasis on social objectives, had various productivity measures, and comprised innovative solutions to ensure the vibrancy of the hawker centre and promote graciousness.
NEA further noted that OTMH will require stallholders selling local food, such as noodles, to each sell two items at a reasonable price of $2.80 per item to ensure affordable meals for the residents. As the centre is to be managed on a not-for-profit basis, OTMH will be using part of its operating surplus for the benefit of the hawker centre, such as to improve vibrancy by supporting community events.
This will also mean a squeeze on the hawkers as they will be asked to pay the higher than average stall fees and to cater for two items on their menu at $2.80.