COVID-19: Care packages for all hawker centre stallholders to maintain cleanliness
SINGAPORE — All stallholders across the 114 hawker centres in Singapore will receive care packages to help them maintain cleanliness amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 14,000 packages will be given out, as part of a collaboration between the National Environment Agency (NEA) and consumer goods giant Unilever International.
According to a media release by NEA on Thursday (2 April), each care package contains cleaning products, which can be used for the cleaning of fixtures and food preparation areas as well as washing of cooking equipment and crockery. Also included is a voucher that can be used to purchase items ranging from cleaning products to cooking ingredients and condiments.
Cleaning guides are also provided and, to tailor to the cleaning needs of stallholders, the cleaning products will also vary between the care packages provided to stallholders of cooked food stalls and those of non-cooked food stalls.
In addition, a thermometer and a log book have been included in the care package to help hawkers keep track of their temperature, monitor their general health status, and give confidence to their patrons.
Safe distancing in hawker centres
Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, handed out the care packages to 83 stallholders at Newton Food Centre on Thursday, together with Unilever International chief executive officer Umesh Shah.
“Like our frontline staff, our hawkers play an essential role in keeping Singapore running by working hard to provide good and affordable food for Singaporeans. We would like to remind hawkers to take care of themselves and continue to monitor their temperatures regularly,” said Khor.
“Patrons can help, too, by being socially responsible and practising safe distancing, such as siting on unmarked seats and maintaining a one-metre gap when queueing up at both the hawker centres’ cooked food and market stalls.
“For markets which tend to be crowded on weekend mornings, patrons should make adjustments and visit the markets when they are less crowded either on weekday mornings or very early on weekends,” she added.
Distribution of the care packages will be done by SG Clean ambassadors over the next month, with help from volunteers from the Singapore Kindness Movement.
Three-month rental waiver for stallholders
As part of the Resilience Budget announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on 26 March, all stallholders in hawker centres managed by NEA or NEA-appointed operators are able to enjoy a three-month rental waiver, with a minimum sum of $200 per month.
This will be inclusive of the one-month rental waiver which was previously announced under the Stabilisation and Support Package during Budget 2020.
Stallholders will benefit from the rental waiver progressively: they will receive a monthly 50 per cent rental waiver from March to June and a monthly 25 per cent rental waiver from July to October.
NEA has also begun rolling out the SG Clean quality mark at hawker centres. As of Monday, more than 3,700 hawker and market stalls and 31 hawker centres have been certified SG Clean.
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