Bugis hawker centre to get $10m facelift

July 28, 2008
Bugis hawker centre to get $10m facelift
By Tan Weizhen

ALBERT Centre, the 30-year-old hawker centre in the Bugis area, will
undergo a $10.4 million makeover over the next 16 months.

The centre will be re- painted and re-designed for better
ventilation. Its seating capacity and its toilets will also be
improved.

This month, just less than half the original 380 stalls - 170 of
them - moved into a temporary centre just across from Rochor Centre.

The cost of the $1.25 million temporary site was borne by these 170
hawkers, who each paid between $5,000 and $9,800. Those who did not
pay up have taken a break, retired or moved to other hawker centres.

Albert Centre is the latest hawker centre to be upgraded under the
National Environment Agency's Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme,
which began in 2001 and will take another two years to complete.

Fourteen other centres are being renovated, and another 40 are up
next.

The temporary centre was opened yesterday by Jalan Besar GRC MPs Lee
Boon Yang, who is the Minister for Information, Communications and
the Arts, and Denise Phua.

Some hawkers who spoke to The Straits Times said business at the
temporary centre was still slow because few customers knew about the
move.

A you tiao seller, who wanted to be known only as Ms Tan, said her
daily takings had dropped from $120 to $70.

But Dr Lee assured the hawkers that what they paid to be sited
temporarily would eventually be worth it because if hawker centres
are not upgraded, they would become more rundown and customers would
patronise other food places.