Centralisation of Table Cleaning Operations of Hawker Centres

Mr Teo Siong Seng asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether the NEA can take over all the public area and table cleaning operations of hawker centres, including those owned by HDB, so as to maintain high standards of public hygiene.

NEA is the regulatory agency responsible for standards of public hygiene. It, therefore, conducts regular inspections of all hawker centres and takes enforcement action where necessary. There are currently two kinds of hawker centres – 25 owned by MEWR and 82 owned by HDB. For the MEWR-owned hawker centres, NEA manages both general cleaning and table cleaning directly, whereas for the HDB-owned hawker centres, the Town Councils manage general cleaning while the Hawker Associations manage table cleaning.

NEA has no plans to change the current arrangement where the cleaning of hawker centres is a shared responsibility between the various stakeholders, including the Town Councils, the Hawker Associations and the cleaning companies who employ the cleaners. With the Enhanced Accreditation Scheme (EAS) and the eventual licensing of all cleaning companies, we expect higher standards of cleanliness at all hawker centres, regardless of the model employed.