The Government's move to make hawker centres more hygienic and comfortable, and also providing Wi-Fi, is laudable ("Hawker centres to get new look and roles"; Feb 4).

Nonetheless, extra caution must be exercised to ensure that these improvements do not increase the rental cost of hawker stalls.

During the past few years, hawker centre food prices have risen, mainly due to rental increases arising from the refurbishment of stalls in the name of upgrading.

Much of such renovation took place when the hawker centres were still in relatively acceptable condition.

As Singapore's average living cost is directly linked to hawker food prices, we have to ensure that any improvement we plan to achieve does not come with further inflation.

Jimmy Ho Kwok Hoong