Annual Operating Surplus Generated by Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centres

Mr Leong Mun Wai asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the Ministry has data on the operating surplus generated by each Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centre (SEHC); and (b) if so, what is the data for each year of the past five years.

Operators of Socially-conscious Enterprise Hawker Centres (SEHCs) are required to submit their audited financial statements for the centres under their management to the National Environment Agency (NEA) on an annual basis. Operators may generate operating surpluses in some years and deficits in other years. From 2019 to 2023, the average annual operating surplus was about $100,000.

In accordance with NEA’s agreement with the SEHCs, those with operating surpluses have ploughed back at least 50% of them into programmes that benefit the hawker centres and/or their stallholders. These could include measures to raise footfall and business levels to benefit stallholders. Some operators had also tapped on their operating surplus to help the stallholders reduce their operating costs.