SINGAPORE, Nov 25 — Stallholders at a Clementi hawker centre have continued a cash-for-rats scheme as part of broader efforts by the authorities to tackle Singapore’s growing rodent problem.
The initiative, run by the Clementi Town Shop Owners’ Association, offers payments to vendors who trap rats within the market.
According to CNA, the association reduced the maximum payout from S$100 (RM316.95) to S$50 this year, with stallholders required to hand over the captured rodents to licensed pest controllers.
“Over the years, there has been a lot of improvement. Only lately there are not much rats caught,” market chairman Henroy Tan told CNA.
“We hope that this programme (will not) stop. You see, once we stop, these rats – they give birth, I think minimum one time they give (birth to) 10 babies,” former chairman Patrick Sze added.
The hawker centre, located at Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre near Clementi MRT Station, has seen vendors using cages and glue traps to capture rodents, largely from the wet market section. Stallholders said they were reminded on November 12 that trapped rats had to be passed to vector control operators, after some previously disposed of them on their own due to the cost of commercial pest services.
The Jurong-Clementi-Bukit Batok Town Council now handles the disposal at no charge. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 10 rats were typically spotted each day, but only one has been recorded this month, according to figures relayed by the council to the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Singapore has faced persistent rat issues, with enforcement action against premises for related lapses rising by about 26 per cent in the first half of this year compared with 2024, as reported by CNA.
NEA data showed an average of 5,400 rat burrows detected per cycle in the first half of 2025, almost double the tally from a year earlier.
The association paid S$240 last month for more than 10 rats caught, less than half the payout made in July when around 20 rodents were trapped. The market is also scheduled for major renovations early next year, with upgrades designed to make the premises more rodent-resistant.
Hawkers told CNA that the bounty programme has helped reduce infestations.
“The project is very good … it helped a lot, and the town council and pest control also helped a lot,” said drinks stall owner Ng Peng Khoon.
“This is our duty to catch the rats, to keep the hawker (centre) clean,” added wet market vendor Chua Wee Seng.