Come February, a temporary market and food centre will be set up behind the Yio Chu Kang Community Club.

It will be able to house 165 stalls, including 48 cooked food stalls.

The operators were given this assurance by the National Environment Agency when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited the stall holders yesterday.

Also, plans for a new market have started and the new facility will be completed in about two years.

Since a fire razed the market's 232 stalls three weeks ago, 124 wet market stall vendors have been operating out of two large white tents that were set up in a nearby carpark a week later to help them continue operating.

The tents, however, did not have the facilities to house cooked food stalls. This was one of the problems a stall owner raised with Mr Lee.

Madam Lai Sun Choo, 50, a fish seller, said her business had dropped by half since the move.

'Fewer customers come because there are no cooked food stalls for them to eat at,' she told The Sunday Times.

But other stall owners said business was steadily getting better and that they were happy to hear about the temporary market which would be ready soon.

As Mr Lee shook hands and vendors waved back, he assured them that he would do what he could to improve the situation.

He also took the opportunity to remind vendors that fire insurance was a vital form of protection that should not be neglected.

It was discovered after the fire that most of the vendors in the market did not have a fire insurance policy.

Yio Chu Kang MP Seng Han Thong later said that only about 20 per cent of the stall vendors had insurance coverage.

'We can use this to remind people that they should always have insurance,' he said.

Earlier, the prime minister also planted a clove tree while touring the area.