SINGAPORE: Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development, Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, said yesterday (14 Apr) that the Bazaar Raya Geylang Serai has attracted about 3 million visitors so far.
Assoc Prof Faishal, who also serves as lead adviser of Wisma Geylang Serai, has been posting regular updates about the situation on the ground at the Geylang Serai bazaar after a number of vendors lamented the high cost of rental and poorer footfall compared to previous years.
The Minister of State has made several visits to the Geylang Serai market in the past week, asserting that some vendors have managed to recover rental costs and that visitor traffic remains high. He was accompanied on some of these visits by his ruling party colleagues.
A number of Malay-Muslim People’s Action Party (PAP) parliamentarians visited the bazaar with Assoc Prof Faishal, last Saturday (9 Apr), including Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Maliki Osman, and Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.
PM-designate Lawrence Wong also visited vendors at the bazaar, along with the Minister of State, this week.
The Minister of State also joined his residents at Nee Soon GRC to the bazaar, as part of a trip organised by Nee Soon Central Zone 6 Residents’ Committee. It is unclear how many residents committees have organised trips and tours to the bazaar.
In his latest Facebook post, the ruling party politician said that the footfall at the market is monitored by a dedicated security team which patrols the ground daily. Revealing that the numbers are compiled and reported at the end of each day, he added: “Happy to share about 3 Million visitors have come here.”
As for how the vendors are doing, Assoc Prof Faishal said, last Tuesday (4 Apr): “I have chatted with some vendors to check on how they are doing. Very happy to know that many of the businesses are doing very well, and some have even covered their rental cost after a week.”
He featured an entrepreneur couple on his Facebook page a few days later and said that the couple have already recovered the $2,000 per booth rental they were charged and that the couple’s stock is running low as the crowds have been great.
Some stallholders who spoke to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), for a report that was released last week, recounted a different experience.
Mr Hasan, who sells kebab at his ‘Hasan Istanbul Kebab’ stall, told the news outlet that he regrets renting a stall at the market this year. Revealing that he paid a whopping $25,000 just for rental, he told CNA: “We’re all losing money. (We) cannot cover costs, cannot even cover rent.”
A stallholder selling Ramly burgers nearby, who paid $20,000 for renting his stall, added: “We regret taking it this year. It was okay in previous years.”
Several stallholders told CNA reporters that there appeared to be fewer visitors this year, while the reporters noticed no queues at most stalls in the vicinity, unlike in previous years.
Their complaints came days after food guru KF Seetoh publicly criticised the Geylang Serai bazaar as “easily the world’s most expensive pasar malam stall” given sky-high rental rates.
https://theindependent.sg/stall-owners-selling-1-wadeh-say-they-pay-thousands-on-top-of-hefty-geylang-serai-bazaar-rent/