THE fate of stallholders at five wet markets slated for sale will be known after January next year, when the Housing Board (HDB) reaches a decision on whether to let the purchases go ahead.
Sheng Siong – the interested buyer – has told HDB it is prepared to continue renting out the wet market stalls to the existing holders.
It is no longer proceeding with its original plan to convert them to Sheng Siong air-conditioned markets.
Sheng Siong wants to buy a sixth market, but the application for that sale has not yet been submitted.
It is understood that the paperwork and due diligence for the sale of the five will take several months to be completed.
Negotiations on the terms and conditions of tenancy will also need to be discussed when and if the sale is completed, said a spokesman for HDB, which held meetings with Sheng Siong representatives earlier this month to discuss the use of the wet markets after the sale.
The talks followed an uproar which erupted among stallholders last month when they were served notice by the owners to move out because the markets had been sold.
Five of the markets – located at Choa Chu Kang Street 62, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1, Serangoon Avenue 3, Bukit Batok West Avenue 8 and Fajar Road – are owned by a company called Heeton Holdings.
The sixth, at Block 623 Elias Road, is owned by Bai Sha Market, which has yet to apply to the HDB to sell its property.
HDB said yesterday that it would not take over operations of the wet markets or interfere with negotiations between the new owner and the tenants.
‘The sale of the wet markets is a property transaction between two private parties. HDB would like to clarify that it cannot impose new requirements that are more stringent on the new owner, compared to those already imposed on the existing one,’ it said in a statement.
However, it will help match any affected stallholder with vacant stalls in other markets operated by the National Environment Agency (NEA). It said that none of the tenants in these markets were former street hawkers who had to be resettled in NEA-run markets.
There are 82 wet markets operated by the NEA, of which 19 are privately run.
According to stallholders, tenants at private markets pay $1,500 to $3,000 each month in rent, and those in NEA markets pay anything from $100 to $2,000 a month.
Stallholders expressed disappointment that the HDB has not stepped in to take over, as they had hoped.
‘That means we are not secure anymore. We are the odd ones out. We are exactly like the government wet markets, but we have no protection at all,’ said fruit-stall owner K.P. Pang, 50.
Together with 31 other stallholders at the Serangoon Avenue 3 market, he petitioned to stay put two weeks ago.
The petition, which has garnered more than 3,000 signatures from residents, was handed yesterday to Mr Seah Kian Peng, an MP for Marine Parade GRC who is in charge of the Serangoon area.
‘Now, we can only hope that Sheng Siong will lease the stalls to us at a reasonable price,’ said Mr Pang.
Sheng Siong said it could not comment as it is not yet the official owner.
Source: Straits Times, 22 Oct 2009
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