Cash assistance for stallholders at NEA-managed centres

Hawker centre and market stallholders bearing the brunt of tightened Covid-19 restrictions will receive one-off cash assistance of $500 per stallholder as part of relief measures announced by the Ministry of Finance yesterday.

The new Market and Hawker Centre Relief Fund will be made available to all individual cooked-food and market stallholders at hawker centres managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and NEA-appointed operators.

The move comes after eateries were barred from letting patrons dine in from Thursday to Aug 18 in an effort to curb the recent spike in Covid-19 infections.

The cash assistance is in addition to ongoing, previously announced subsidies that are meant to take the financial pressure off stallholders. These include a one-month rental waiver and one month of subsidised fees for table cleaning and centralised dishwashing services.

In total, stallholders have been given eight months of rental waivers and six months of subsidies for table cleaning and centralised dishwashing services since last year.

NEA is expected to announce more details.

Food and beverage businesses that have to pivot back to deliveries will get assistance in the form of subsidised delivery costs under Enterprise Singapore's (ESG) Food Delivery Booster Package.

The package, which initially ran from May 16 to July 15, will be reintroduced in phase two (heightened alert) from Thursday until Aug 18.

ESG will provide funding for 5 percentage points of the commission charged by food delivery platforms, as well as funding for 20 per cent of delivery costs for those who use third-party logistics partners.

Both Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu and Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor weighed in on the latest measures for hawkers and market stallholders in Facebook posts yesterday.

Ms Fu said: "We are committed to help stallholders who have been adversely impacted by Covid-19 and the fall in footfall."

They noted that as more Covid-19 cases have been linked to markets and hawker centres, some of which have been closed for deep cleaning, it has been a very challenging time for stallholders and workers.

"Our markets and hawker centres are places with higher risks of transmission, and frequently visited by members of the public, including our seniors," wrote Ms Fu.

Thus, safe management measures and SafeEntry check-in at markets and hawker centres are being enhanced to facilitate better contact tracing, she said.

Currently, visitors to markets and hawker centres are required to check in with the TraceTogether app or token.

Dr Khor said the Ministry of Health, working with NEA, is conducting Covid-19 testing for all stallholders and stall assistants of market stalls and cooked-food stalls at hawker centres and markets managed by NEA and NEA-appointed operators.

Ms Fu and Dr Khor stressed the importance of taking safety management measures seriously while visiting markets and hawker centres for takeaways.

Dr Khor said: "Each of us can do our part to support our hawkers during this trying time. One way is to support them through food delivery apps."

The latest slew of measures is part of a new support package that will cost the Government $1.1 billion.

These measures also come ahead of the Parliament sitting on Monday.