Are the NEA’s policies contributing to higher foodcourt prices?
I refer to the article “Jurong West Hawker Centre customers to pay deposit when using trays: Hawker Management” (Channel NewsAsia, Oct 18).
It states that “The Koufu Group social enterprise subsidiary had received complaints from stallholders who had to pay for a tray-return programme that rewarded customers with 20 cents for each tray they returned.”
As to “In its statement, Hawker Management said the tray return initiative would be changed to a deposit system, where customers pay 20 cents to collect clean trays for use and are refunded when they return the trays at designated collection points” – does it mean that customers will be paying 20 cents more, since they will no longer get a 20 cents incentive, without any deposit, currently?
If so, it is an increase of say about 7% for a meal of $3 (20 cents divided by $3).
So, the solution is to make customers pay more!
With regard to “”In line with the objective to encourage a gracious society where patrons play a proactive role in returning their trays, the tray return initiative will thereby help to reduce cleaning fees for tenants while easing the workload of the cleaners,” said the operator”” – it had profits of $6.16 million.
So, arguably, are ‘social entreprise’ food court operators really ‘social entreprises’?
In respect of “It added that it would “work closely” with tenants to “work out the mechanics and operational details”.
“Once these details are finalised, Hawker Management will announce when the new deposit-based tray return initiative will take effect.”
As for other complaints, including stallholders having to continue to pay basic rent if they terminate their contract early, Hawker Management said it “noted” all other feedback.
“Hawker Management has also noted all other feedback and comments gathered from the meetings, including contractual terms, and are in the midst of reviewing them internally, with a view to address all outstanding matters quickly,” it said” – how much longer will it take to give a concrete decision and action?
As to “The National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Thursday it welcomes the idea of starting a committee with hawker representatives and holding activities to improve the vibrancy of the hawker centre.
“As we have been doing, NEA will continue to pay close attention and support the operator and stallholders to address the remaining outstanding matters.” NEA said in its statement.
Hawker Management also said in a statement that the tray-return programme has resulted in lower cleaning fees for the food centre as fewer cleaners are employed.
At S$1,100, Jurong West Hawker Centre’s cleaning fees are one of the lowest among social enterprise hawker centres, it said” (“Koufu meets Jurong West hawkers over tray-return fees”, Channel NewsAsia, Oct 16) – the NEA should stop making meaningless, ‘no action’ motherhood statements – and start doing some real work – such as providing a table comparing the charges to stallholders of the 7 food court operators, the percentage increase in the total charges since the NEA started its Department of Cleaning (DOC) in 2012, etc
“They want to teach customers to be more gracious but this should be taught at home, since young. It shouldn’t be on us. This is a very f**ked up method. It puts us in such a precarious and embarrassing position,” she said.
“I’ve seen fights break out between stallholders over these trays. I’ve also seen people and school children come to the hawker centre to collect and return trays just to get the S$0.20 in exchange. You can’t put this on us,” the anonymous stallholder added” – why is it that other countries like Japan do not have our problem of ‘not returning trays’?
In respect of “After Makansutra founder and veteran food critic KF Seetoh posted a blog entry in August titled “Not Social Enterprise Hawker Centres”, social enterprise hawker centres have been in the spotlight for their additional charges and services” – the NEA has done nothing to address this issue, other then making meaningless, ‘no action’ statements, like saying that the stallholders had agreed to the terms when they signed their contracts.
Leong Sze Hian
