A New Hawker Centre Will Open Near Woodleigh MRT Station This Year

By
Isaac Goh
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As 2023 opens up, we dread many things: ending our holidays, going back to work, the 1% GST hike, etc. 

However, there are still some things to look forward to, like the new hawker centre opening at Woodleigh. 

A New Hawker Centre Will Open Near Woodleigh MRT Station This Year

Residents of the new Bidadari housing estate pay attention. 

In the second half of 2023, y’all can expect a new hawker centre to open near Woodleigh MRT, which will feature 39 food stalls and more than 700 seats. 

The new Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre will be located at Block 202C, beside the upcoming Woodleigh mall. 

It will also be situated near Macpherson Mall, NEX, and Upper Serangoon Centre. Additionally, it will service Bartley MRT and Potong Pasir MRT.

Here’s where to find the new food centre:

Image: ClickProperty

According to a tender published by the NEA, “woke” (socially conscious) enterprises were invited to submit tenders for the management of the hawker centre. 

Hopefully, this doesn’t go down like Bukit Canberra’s case. 

Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre Drama

On 17 December, the Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre opened, with many flocking to experience its new facilities, like the self-ordering kiosk. 

While many were contented, some ridiculed the prices of their dabao (takeaway) boxes. 

Under a “woke” management, the takeaway packaging was all supposed to be biodegradable. In other words, no styrofoam or plastic boxes. 

Because of this, the dabao boxes were more expensive, and hawkers had to change more proportionally. 

The problem then arises: people weren’t happy with the steep takeaway costs.

After all, wouldn’t you be pissed if the box alone cost you another 10% of the total price?

Since then, Canopy Hawkers, the firm responsible for managing Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre, announced that all the stalls would charge no more than 30 cents for dabao boxes in the future.

You’d be wrong if you thought everything would be fine from there. 

Another issue has arisen due to the management’s decision. This time, it has to do with the hawkers.

When reporters from Shin Min Daily News visited the hawker centre on 21 December, most of the hawkers claimed that they had already been absorbing part of the costs spent on purchasing the biodegradable dabao boxes.

Many also touched on how they hope the management can offer them more help to resolve any cost issues related to takeaway packaging soon.

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Management’s Response

Regarding the pricing of the takeaway containers, Canopy Hawkers Group told Goody Feed that their goal is to make Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre a “green hawker centre through green practices”.

According to Joey Tan, the group’s Managing Director, this includes “[reducing] the use of disposables and [working] with all our stallholders to ensure that disposable crockery and utensils will not be served for patrons who dine in at the hawker centre”.

As for individuals who choose to dabao their food, they are encouraged to bring and use their reusable containers to store the food they buy at the hawker centre.

Mr Tan emphasised that most of the stalls have been charging 20 to 30 cents for takeaway packaging since the hawker centre’s opening and that Canopy Hawkers has decided to standardise the price of takeaway packaging to be at most 30 cents for all stalls.

“We have taken in the feedback and have quickly worked with our stallholders. We are also assisting our stallholders by sourcing and introducing vendors who offer bulk-buy programmes for takeaway packaging to keep costs low,” Mr Tan added.

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Isaac Goh
Email: [email protected]