Hawker centres were built more than 20 years ago and many are in rather poor condition, which do not blend in with modern architecture around it. Hawker centres are unique to Singapore and form an integral part of Singapore's lifestyle. Its authentic style and variety of food appeals, not only to Singaporeans, but to foreigners and tourists. Therefore, hawker centres should be preserved and upgraded.

The Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme (HUP) was launched in Feb 2001 at an estimated cost of $420m to upgrade markets/hawker centres over a period of 10 years.

The upgrading involves:

• re-tiling
• replacement of tables and stools
• replacement of water, sewer/sanitary pipes
• re-wiring
• re-roofing, if necessary
• improvement to ventilation
• provision/replacement of exhaust flue system
• upgrading of toilets, transit bin centres

In some cases, there will be reconfiguration or rebuilding of markets/hawker centres.

The first batch of HUP was announced in Jul 01; 19 markets/hawker centres were originally selected. In Oct 01, as part of the second off-budget measures and to speed up the progress of the HUP, an additional 10 markets/hawker centres were included in the first batch of the HUP, bringing the total to 29.

Under the second batch which was announced in Jul 02, 15 markets/ hawker centres were selected.

Batch 3 was announced in Feb 04 and 14 markets/hawker centres were announced.

Batch 4 was announced in Dec 04 and 13 markets/hawker centres were selected.

Batch 5 was announced in Feb 06 and 9 markets/hawker centres were selected.

Under Batch 6, 12 market/hawker centres were selected.

Under Batch 7, 14 market/hawker centres were selected.

Details on the selected markets/hawker centres and the upgrading/completed period are as shown below:

Completed Centres

Upgrading in Progress