Upside to having privately run hawker centres

COMPETITIVE bidding for land to build wet markets and hawker centres might result in high prices for consumers, opposition MP Low Thia Khiang (Hougang) warned yesterday.

He suggested that the Government, instead of private developers, should continue to build such new centres and markets as this would ensure Singapore remain a liveable and affordable city.

'If we apply the principle of maximising economic benefit from the land occupied by hawker centres and wet markets, these iconic features of Singapore would become supermarkets and food courts in no time,' he said.

But Senior Minister of State (National Development) Grace Fu replied that it was not necessarily true that consumers would end up paying a higher price for goods and services.

This is because private operators of such markets and centres need to ensure that what is sold is affordable and relevant to the needs of residents.

She cited the example of Sengkang's first hawker centre and wet market.

Opened in January and run by the Kopitiam chain, it is the first instance where the Housing Board allowed a stand-alone market and food centre to be developed by a private operator.

She visited the centre and found prices comparable to those at other hawker centres in the neighbourhood. A plate of chicken rice was $3 and coffee cost 90 cents. 'I don't think you can call that exorbitant,' she said.

Having a master tenant meant the Government could hold one person responsible for cleanliness and service standards. Such a tenant could ensure a good mix of tenants and must also be able to convince enough stalls to operate round the clock, providing better services to residents.

Ms Fu noted that, by contrast, a hawker centre in Hougang, which had since been demolished, had a vacancy rate of 34 per cent.

Why was that the case? It was because the National Environment Agency, the authority in charge of hawker centres, does not have a role to micro-manage tenants' businesses.

A commercial operator, however, 'will be able to do that and has the incentive to do that', she said.

Source: Straits Times, 6 Mar 2010