HAWKER LICENCES (Particulars)

Encik Abbas Abu Amin asked the Minister for the Environment (a) how many licensed hawkers there were on 31st December 1985; (b) how many hawker licences will be issued in 1986; (c) what are the criteria for approving applications for such licences; and (d) what types of stalls are available to new licencees.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment (Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng) (for the Minister for the Environment): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am answering on behalf of my Minister.

The number of licensed hawkers as at 31st December 1985 was 25,511, consisting of 13,236 market produce hawkers, 9,249 cooked food hawkers and 3,026 piece and sundry goods hawkers.

New hawker licences are issued only to resettlement cases and those who qualify under the hardship scheme. As the HDB and the MOE will not be building any more hawker centres, the number of new hawker licences to be issued in 1986 will depend on the number of vacancies that become available when existing stallholders give up their stalls.

The criteria for approving applications for cooked food stalls are based on the applicant's financial position, age and the number of dependants the applicant has to support.

As at the end of February 1986, there were vacancies for 1,535 market produce stalls, 357 cooked food stalls and 144 piece and sundry goods stalls. 120 food stalls are set aside for resettlement cases each year. The remaining vacancies are available to those who satisfy the means test for hardship.

Encik Abbas Abu Amin (Pasir Panjang): Sir, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary consider offering some of the vacant stalls to the older retrenched workers?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am afraid the answer has to be no. To simply give a retrenched worker a stall because he has been retrenched or because he is unemployed is really not the only way to help this retrenched worker. There are many other more suitable and better ways to help retrenched workers. Having said that, if a worker is retrenched and finds himself in serious financial hardship, then he may together with all the other hardship cases, apply for consideration by the Hawkers Department. What we normally do is to consider his application according to his age, financial position, total family income, the number of dependants he has, and so on. If he qualifies, then we will consider him for a stall, but he has to wait for it.