Hawker stalls will be allowed to employ long-term visit pass holders from January 1 next year
SINGAPORE: Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon said on Monday (Oct 14) that hawker stalls would be permitted to employ long-term visit pass holders (LTVP) who have been authorized to work in Singapore as stall helpers starting on January 1st, 2019.
Only Singaporeans and permanent residents are currently eligible to work as stall helpers or as stallholders in hawker centers run by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and operators that they have designated.
Nonetheless, due to their close relationship to the hawkers, “NEA exercises some flexibility by allowing stallholders to appoint their spouses who are LTVP or LTVP-Plus holders (who have been given approval to work in the country) as their stall assistants,” Dr. Koh said in parliament.
The easing of NEA’s recruiting regulations gives hawkers more hiring alternatives since labor is one of their primary cost drivers, according to the organization.
According to Dr. Koh, officials are looking at more hawker assistance initiatives and will provide information when it is available.
In response to inquiries from parliamentarians on stall rent, Dr. Koh said that the NEA is examining pertinent guidelines at hawker centers to guarantee that the system continues to function well while maintaining the affordability of hawker cuisine.
A vendor put in a bid of S$10,158 (about $7,770) in July at Marine Parade Central Market and Food Center to lease a vacant booth. It was the biggest offer for a hawker stall in the previous six years and the second-highest price for the unit.
Dr. Koh reaffirmed that hawker booths do not often charge high tender prices.
Last year, around one in five prepared food vendors received awards at tender values of S$500 or less. He said that in 2022 and 2023, the median successful tender price for prepared food booths in hawker centers was around S$2,000 and S$1,800, respectively.
Every month, the NEA holds tender procedures for vacant hawker booths, which Dr. Koh described as “transparent and fair.”
Tendered rentals are modified toward assessed market values ascertained via independent expert assessment after a three-year first tenancy period, he added.
He said that the NEA has eliminated reserve rentals and has not imposed a minimum bid amount for bids involving hawker stalls since 2012.
Tenderers may thus get booths for less than the market rate for the first length of the lease. A paradigm where stalls are allotted at set rental prices would not be able to do this, according to Dr. Koh.
