Tanjong Pagar, Holland Drive residents get good food news

Two hawker centres - in Tanjong Pagar and Holland Drive - reopened for business on Wednesday after a $10 million facelift, says the National Environment Agency.

The reopening of the markets and food centres at Block 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza and Block 44 Holland Drive comes after they were renovated over 10 months under the Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme (HUP).

Individual stalls will reopen once they complete their renovation.

At each centre, patrons will get more seating and upgraded toilet facilities, and cooked-food stalls will have mechanical exhaust systems to improve ventilation.

The markets and food centres have also been re-wired and had their plumbing and tiling replaced.

Each food centre is more than three decades old: The Tanjong Pagar Plaza centre was built in 1977 while the one in Holland Drive was built in 1979.

Tanjong Pagar's market and food centre was upgraded at a cost of $4.85 million while the one in Holland Drive cost $5.4 million.

Most of the cooked-food stalls at each centre will resume their business. But some will not be back - 19 of 74 stalls at the Holland Drive centre and 23 of 70 at Tanjong Pagar.

Housewife Chrys Lim, 58, who lives in Holland Close, said she had to travel to Farrer Road, Ghim Moh and Tiong Bahru markets for fresh food while the Holland Drive centre was under renovation.

"This one is more convenient because I can just walk there," she said. "If I can get fresh produce from the market, I prefer not to get it from a supermarket."

In total, 106 hawker centres have been upgraded since the $420-million HUP was launched in 2001. The upgrading involves the replacement of tables and stools, improvement to ventilation, upgrading of toilets and bin centres as well as other refurbishments.

In 2011, the Government announced that it planned to build 10 new hawker centres, the first new ones in more than two decades. The first of these will be in Bukit Panjang and will include a wet market. Construction began in 2012 and it is expected to be ready in 2015.

caiwj@sph.com.sg

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