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by Cheryl Tay
Rent for hawker stalls dropped in March and April, following the change in policy which removed the reserve bidding price for such stalls. According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), over one-third of the bids for 50 hawker stalls have been stopped under their previous reserve prices.
Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, said the lower prices may be attributed to the removal of the reserve rent, or the minimum rent imposed by the government when stalls are rented out via the tender scheme.
Under the policy change, vacant stalls will be allocated to the highest bidder, regardless of the price, as long as there is more than one bid.
Fu noted that the revised policy has helped to ease stall rentals, making food prices affordable. The move also aimed to increase the use of vacant stall spaces to provide more food and marketing options to consumers.
“I am happy to observe that successful bids from the March and April tender exercises have trended downwards as compared to previous months, with many of them below the previous reserve rents.”
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