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The government is setting aside about S$29 million to help Housing Development Board (HDB) shops across the island spruce up their business and increase their competitiveness, Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee announced Monday, 29 August.
This funding for the scheme this year is higher than S$15 million aid Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in his Budget speech earlier in March.
A total of 25 sites will be the first to benefit from the ROS scheme which was enhanced in May this year. Enhancement of the scheme included the 75 percent increase in the upgrading budget for each shop from S$20,000 to S$35,000, a reduction in shopowners’ share of the upgrading cost from 50 percent to 20 percent and capped at S$5,000, and the new funding of S$10,000 for Merchants’ Associations (MA).
Of the selected sites, seven will receive co-funding for the upgrading of common areas and promotional events, six will receive funding for the upgrading of common areas, and four will get aid to hold promotional events. Another eight sites have applied for a new start-up fund to form merchants’ association.
Mr Lee said it is important to assist heartland shops as they provide convenience, affordability and choice to residents, as well as creating a sense of community and belonging.
“There’s a sense of being back home,” Mr Lee said. “[The] familiar surroundings and friendly faces of shopkeepers add to that sense of homeliness. So we want to make sure that our heartland shops get infused with vitality.”
He also added that the scheme would help shopkeepers tap on funding to promote the heartland business which will help increase their competitiveness as they “face intense competition, not only from shopping malls, but increasingly from the online space.”
Since its inception in November 2007, the ROS scheme has benefitted 4,684 shops across 54 HDB towns and neighbourhood centres.
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg
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