EVICTION OF STALLHOLDERS

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EVICTION OF STALLHOLDERS

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1.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources for each of the past five years (a) how many stallholders in hawker centres and markets have been evicted from their stalls and their licences removed as a result of their inability to pay rent; and (b) what is the average arrears of those evicted.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Stallholders who are unable to pay their rents are given ample opportunities and time to pay their arrears. These include extending the period of payment and allowing the stallholders to pay their arrears by instalments. The stallholders will not be evicted so long as the arrears are paid up on time.

Due to the above measures, there are therefore very few instances where stallholders had been evicted because they were unable to pay rent. In the past five years, there were only two cases. One case was in 2004 and the other in 2005, and the amount of arrears owed by these stallholders were about $14,400 and $31,200, respectively. Instalment plans were offered to the stallholders in both cases, but they had defaulted on their instalment payments.

NEA has to be stringent in chasing for arrears as these are public monies which need to be accountable to the public. I would like to assure the House that evicting the stallholders will only be exercised as a last resort, because we recognise that it may bring undue hardship to the stallholders who rely on the stalls for their livelihood.

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