With more letters written to ST Forum by members of the public lambasting NEA and its “social enterprise” hawker centre model, the NEA Director of Hawker Centre Division Ivy Ong wrote to ST Forum today (‘New hawker centre model tries to balance competing interests‘, 25 Oct) to once again defend NEA’s policy.

She said that when the Government resumed the building of hawker centres in 2012, NEA sought a management model that prioritises consumers’ needs – such as food affordability, availability and a clean environment – while “balancing the sustainability of the hawker trade in terms of profitability and addressing unattractive working conditions”.

She reminded everyone that the social enterprise model came after “extensive consultations”.

“The aim (of the model) is to leverage the expertise of socially conscious enterprise operators in food and beverage, property and lease management, and introduce new and innovative ideas to achieve the social mission of hawker centres on a not-for-profit basis,” she said.

But on the other hand, Elim Chew who chaired the 18-member Hawker Centre Public Consultation Panel back in 2012, had said that “not-for-profit” doesn’t mean that the operators “don’t make profit”.

Ms Ong continued, “Besides offering affordable food in a clean environment, the operators are required to implement initiatives to enhance the vibrancy of the centre and sustain the hawker trade. These include measures to increase footfall, the curation of food mix, introducing famous food recipes and hawker mentorship programmes.”

“NEA seeks to achieve a balance by requiring the hawker to serve an affordably priced food option while favouring centre operators with a lower total cost to stallholders,” she said. “Operators are also not allowed to vary the charges to stallholders at any time during the tenancy term.”

She also said that Kampung Admiralty and Our Tampines Hub hawker centres are “doing well”. Kampung Admiralty hawker centre is under NTUC Foodfare while Tampines Hub hawker centre is under the Kopitiam Group, which would be taken over by NTUC Foodfare by the end of the year.

“The hawker centres run by socially conscious enterprise operators are pilot projects, and form seven out of 114 hawker centres in Singapore. They have brought some benefits but there are also areas that need to be reviewed and improved, which we are doing as part of the stock take of the management model,” she added.

Still, a hawker centre doing well doesn’t necessary mean the hawkers are doing well. It may just mean the social enterprise operators are doing well.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

【国会】用于刑事调查 警可获取合力追踪便携器数据

警察部队在进行刑事调查时,可获取合力追踪便携器的数据。 内政部政务部长陈国明在今日(4日)国会答复议员质询时表示,刑事程序法赋予警方权力,可获取任何数据,包括合力追踪便携器的数据。 而政府则是合力追踪便携器数据的保管人,并采取了严格的措施来保护个人数据,其中包括只允许获得授权的官员查阅数据,而且数据必须用在经授权用途上,以及储存在安全的数据平台。 根据公共服务监管法令,未经授权披露或滥用有关资料的公务员将面对高达5千元罚款、或长达两年监禁、或两者兼施。

CapitaLand and other Singapore firms temporarily cease operations in China due to viral outbreak

Due to the rising death tolls and infected cases, temporary closures of…

非法入境船只遭拦截 警捕三人今日提控

两名印尼籍男女与一名马国男子因非法入境新加坡,被警察海岸卫队发现并逮捕,今日(14日)即将面临控诉。 新加坡警察昨日发文告指出,警察海岸卫队于1月12日晚间9点13分左右柔佛海峡东部的浮标附近海域监测到一艘没有编号的小艇。 其中有两人两人在被发现后跳入水中,只有一人仍在船上,但不久后,一名跳水的男子又再度游回来并登上船。 警察海岸卫队也立即拦截船只,并在船上逮捕了两名印尼籍男女,分别为44岁与41岁,而39岁马国男子则在附近的海域被捕,相信是该船船夫。 经初步调查,两名印尼籍男女相信是要到马来西亚寻找工作,而三人则在非法入境新加坡罪被捕,马国男子也因涉嫌从事非法移民生意而正接受警方调查。三人将于今天被控上法庭。 非法入境一经定罪,将被判入狱长达六个月以及鞭苔至少三下。

Ku Swee Yong: Less spendings as fewer visitors frequent malls

In the write-up by the CEO of International Property Advisor Pte Ltd,…