The refurbished Jurong West Hawker Centre is also slated to reopen in the third quarter of this year. It will have a revamped layout and more cooked food stalls when it opens.
A total of 25 hawker centres, including Holland Village Market and Food Centre, are scheduled for repairs and redecoration this year.
“Such periodic restoration of hawker centres, carried out every six to eight years, keeps them in a good physical condition and ensures a pleasant dining environment for patrons,” said the agencies.
From next year, Geylang Serai Market and Cheng San Market and Cooked Food Centre will undergo the Hawker Centres Transformation Programme.
This will involve a reconfiguration of seats, ventilation enhancements such as new fittings and fans, and extensive retiling, among other enhancements.
Separately, NEA said it will work with operators of new hawker centres to pilot the use of snack kiosks to bring in a wider variety of snacks, such as muah chee and putu piring.
“We have also received feedback that some local snacks are increasingly less commonly found,” said Dr Khor. “Those selling such snacks usually find it difficult to sustain an entire cooked food stall.
“We will monitor the viability of such kiosks before deciding if we should scale up this pilot.”
These kiosks, which could incur lower rental and operating costs, could help preserve snacks as a part of hawker culture, said the NEA.