The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) stated that it has received the report from the Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee (“the Committee”).
MEWR stated that the Committee was formed in January 2016 to review and make recommendations to the Government on the management of hawker centres and the sustainability of the hawker trade.
The vision is for our hawker centres to be appealing and vibrant social spaces where people from all walks of life can enjoy affordable and tasty food in a clean and hygienic environment and where hawkers can continue to make a decent livelihood,” it said.
The Ministry noted that chaired by the Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Amy Khor, the 14-member Committee looked into four key areas, namely sustaining the hawker trade, improving productivity in hawker centres, enhancing hawker centres as social spaces, and promoting graciousness.
It also stated that over the course of 2016, the Committee had received feedback from more than 800 stakeholders, including hawkers, members of public, cleaning contractors, and other industry players.
MEWR then said that the Committee’s recommendations under the four key areas are as follows:
- On sustaining the hawker trade and supporting new entrants, including develop sustainable and dedicated training programmes, allocate a number of stalls in various hawker centres as incubation stalls for aspiring individuals to experience being a hawker for a limited period of time, set up a comprehensive one-stop information centre that would function as a service centre for hawker trade-related enquiries, consider partnering relevant parties to develop suitable promotional programmes to raise the profile of hawkers and the hawker trade.
- On improving productivity in hawker centres, including continue to explore ways to improve the productivity in hawker centres – both at the centre-level and the stall-level and promote and encourage more widespread adoption of more efficient and productive equipment in the hawkers’ operations at the stall level.
- On enhancing hawker centres as social spaces and improving the vibrancy of hawker centres, including recommend the National Environment Agency (NEA) and hawker centre operators to facilitate regular, organised activities, recommend the Government to continue improving the amenities within the hawker centres, such as providing free WIFI access as well as child-friendly spaces, recommend hawker centres to continue to have a good mix of food.
- On promoting graciousness in hawker centres, including the Committee’s engagement sessions with various stakeholders indicate that there was a universal desire for a clean and hygienic dining environment and that most saw tray-return as a desirable social habit that should be cultivated and the Committee is of the view that the Government and other stakeholders should continue to use posters, murals or campaigns to encourage kind and considerate behaviour, such as the sharing of tables and keeping our hawker centres clean by not littering when dining there as hawker centres are community spaces shared by everyone.
On receiving the Report, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Mr Masagos Zulkifli said, “I would like to thank the Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee for their hard work over the past year and providing valuable feedback and recommendations to improve our hawker centres. Of course, this report would not be complete without the ideas and suggestions from the various stakeholders, such as our hawkers and members of the public.”
“I also want to thank everyone who contributed their feedback and ideas during the various engagement sessions. We are currently studying the report and will give our response in due course,” he added.
