No compulsory designated suppliers at operator-run centres

Some operator-run centres require stallholders to buy gas or crockery from a supplier the operator chose. A captive buyer is the one place where a middleman can charge what he likes, so the plan asks NEA to bar compulsory designated suppliers in its guidelines for operator-run centres, or to have any centre-wide contract re-tendered in the open, with its price on the Plate Ledger. It needs no new law.

Who pays

The library gives this mechanism no who-pays tag of its own.

What it builds on

Some operator-run centres require designated suppliers for gas and crockery, as Hazel Poa noted in 2024 (the Record, A.7, §2.12).

The ask of Government

Decision

No compulsory designated suppliers at operator-run centres – stallholders buy gas and crockery where they choose, or under a centre-wide contract re-tendered in the open

Instrument

NEA's guidelines for operator-run centres (administrative)

Fiscal cost

Zero

What it buys

Closes the one captive market where a middleman can charge what he likes, with the contract's price on the Plate Ledger (§2.12).

From §2.12, §7.7.

Who gains

Hawkers

Gas and crockery bought where the hawker chooses (§2.12).

Government

Closes a captive market without a new law (§7.7).