A table-cleaning fee subsidy at the pilot centres

In 2025 a non-subsidised stallholder at centres comparable with the operator-run ones paid a median $520 a month for table cleaning (MSE, 8 Sep 2026). The fee passes on a contractor's price, and the Minister said on 6 July 2021 that no fall in cleaning costs was expected after tray return, so the plan no longer asks NEA to cut it. Instead the Government pays a $200 a stall a month subsidy at the pilot centres, three, five at most, following NEA's temporary support of September 2026 to February 2027, and each centre's cleaning contract is re-tendered for the work left since tray return; any saving comes off the subsidy. At a Town Council centre the hawkers' association holds that contract on the stallholders' behalf (NEA tender notices, 2022 and 2024), so it re-tenders, with NEA convening. The fee was flat before GST from 2022 to 2024 at four NEA-managed centres while the cleaners' Progressive Wage rose by a third. At an operator-run centre the fee is a pass-through the operator may not profit from, so a saving there comes from re-pricing the contract. It costs up to about $0.98M a year at the three pilot centres, 408 stalls, or $1.63M at five; nationally, a later decision, up to about $16.6M a year, all of it the Government's.

Who pays

ASK OF GOVERNMENT

What it costs

$200 SGD · a stall a month, a Government subsidy

$200 a stall a month

What it builds on

NEA's temporary $200 a month support for stallholders (September 2026 to February 2027); tray return the rule since 2021; table-cleaning fees that pass on a contractor's price (NEA tender notice, Aug 2026).

The ask of Government

Decision

A table-cleaning fee subsidy at the pilot centres – $200 a stall a month, following NEA's temporary support of September 2026 to February 2027, at the three pilot centres, five at most, tested by re-tendering each centre's cleaning contract for the work left since tray return became the rule in 2021; the evaluator shows its effect before anyone prices it nationally

Instrument

Budget line; the contract's holder re-tenders it, convened by NEA: the hawkers' association at a Town Council centre, with the Town Council's agreement; with the operator's agreement at an operator-run centre

Fiscal cost

Up to ≈$0.98M/yr at the three pilot centres, 408 stalls ($200 a stall a month), ≈$1.63M/yr at five; less wherever a re-tendered contract costs less. Nationally, a later decision: up to ≈$16.6M/yr

What it buys

$2,400 a year back to each stallholder at a pilot centre, and a public test of what the cleaning left after tray return really costs.

From §2.2, §7.7.

Who gains

Hawkers

$2,400 a year back to each stallholder at a pilot centre (§2.2).

Government

A public test of what the cleaning left after tray return really costs (§7.7).