The National Environment Agency (NEA) has refuted veteran blogger Leong Sze Hian’s assertion that it collects profit from the management of hawker centres, stating that it neither collects profit nor keeps the fees for table-cleaning and dishwashing services.
The statement was made in response to Mr Leong’s Facebook post on 23 May, in which he cited article by The Straits Times on the NEA’s effort to provide S$9 million in rental waivers and subsidies to help local hawkers amid tightened COVID-19 measures.
ST’s report highlighted that Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor has announced that the NEA will waive half of hawker stall rentals in May and June, which will amount to some S$5.5 million in rental waivers.
To this, Mr Leong commented: “Does this mean that the NEA collects about $66 million ($5.5 x 12 months) a year?”
Ms Khor also noted that the NEA will “subsidise 100 per cent of fees” for table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing services for cooked food stallholders during the no-dine-in period, which amounting to some S$3.3 million.
Commenting on this, Mr Leong asked: “Does this mean that the NEA collects about $39 million ($3.3 x 12 months) a year?”
“So, does it add up to the NEA collecting a total of about $105 million ($66 + $39) a year? If so, this works out to an average of about $17,500 ($105m divided by 6,000 stalls) per stall.
“If we include non-cooked food and drinks stalls – how much more is NEA collecting?” he added.
Citing the Trading Economics’ data, Mr Leong pointed out that food Inflation in Singapore averaged 2.86 per cent from 1962 to 2020, compared to the inflation rate which averaged 2.50 per cent from 1962 to this year.
“Perhaps, the NEA could consider reducing the rental or services fees to lighten the cost burden of hawkers, mitigate the problem of a disappearing hawker culture and reduce prices to consumers,” he suggested.
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/20...ent-netizens-demand-breakdown-of-its-revenue/
