Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centres by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Written Reply by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, to Parliamentary Question on Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centres

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what are the criteria used to evaluate the success of the Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centres (SEHCs); (b) from 2019-2020, what are the yearly mean, median and range of rents for SEHC stalls compared to NEA-run hawker centre stalls; (c) from 2018-2020, what is the yearly number of complaints received at SEHCs; and (d) of these, what are the percentages of hawkers raising such complaints and complaints that are successfully resolved respectively.

Answer:

1 Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centre (SEHC) operators are required to meet monthly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on ensuring a minimum level of vibrancy, stall occupancy, footfall, and timeliness in addressing feedback at the SEHCs.

2 The monthly stall rentals at the SEHCs range from $1,000 - $3,693. This is within the range of monthly rentals of non-subsidised stalls at comparable existing hawker centres, which is between $213 to $4,500. In 2019 and 2020, the median monthly stall rental in SEHCs was $2,000. This was similar to median monthly stall rental at comparable existing hawker centres at $1,700 and $1,600 in 2019 and 2020 respectively, after accounting for the larger stall size, better-designed stalls, and amenities at the SEHCs.

3 Between 2018 and 2020, each SEHC would receive on average 4 instances of feedback per month. SEHC operators are generally able to address at least 90% of the feedback, which are mostly from patrons, within 3 working days as they have been required. SEHC operators have also been regularly engaging hawkers through Hawker Feedback Group sessions, held every quarter or less to gather feedback and seek ideas from stallholders to improve the hawker centres. The SEHC operators will proactively work with stallholders to address any concerns raised.

4 The SEHC model has brought benefits to both hawkers and patrons. SEHC operators have curated food stalls for quality and variety, and organised events to enhance footfall and vibrancy at their centres. During the pandemic, they have implemented initiatives to help hawkers get onto food delivery and tap on group-buys and kept stall occupancy high at SEHCs. Some operators have also attracted new entrants to the hawker trade through their own incubation stall programmes.