Steamboat 301213Faxes

Steamboat outlet faces
closure for repeatedly
obstructing walkway
AFTER getting fined at least 38
times over the last three years,
Madam Anita Wang has now been
given an ultimatum.
If she continues to put tables
and chairs along the public walkway in front of her Tian Tian
steamboat restaurant at the 101
building along Beach Road, she
will have to bring the shutters
down, permanently.
At least two other steamboat
restaurants along nearby Liang
Seah Street have also been fined
multiple times.
But the restaurants’ owners
say that they continued to flout
the rules because it was the only
way to keep business afloat.
“I thought that they would let
me continue operating as long as I
paid the fines,” said Madam
Wang, who has coughed up to the
Land Transport Authority about
$20,000 in fines.
Last month, she received the final warning from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
In response to queries from
The Straits Times, the URA said
that Madam Wang has been operating “unauthorised outdoor refreshment areas (ORAs)” on the
public walkway since 2009, which
she is prohibited from doing.
A spokesman said the agency
had received “numerous complaints” that the outdoor dining
area set up by Madam Wang was
obstructing pedestrian flow,
“causing noise disturbance, public hygiene problems and general
disamenities to the public”.
The authorities had repeatedly
taken “several enforcement actions... including seizing tables
and chairs on the walkways on a
few occasions”.
“However, the operator simply
reinstated the unauthorised ORAs
The outdoor dining area (above) of Tian Tian steamboat restaurant more than doubles the restaurant’s capacity, but owner
Anita Wang said she has stopped putting tables on the walkway after receiving a warning. ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA
with new tables and chairs,” said
the URA spokesman.
Madam Wang, who did not
want to provide her age, claims
that business has fallen by more
than half since the last warning
from the URA and she may shut
down in the next four months.
With her outdoor arrangement,
she was able to serve about 30 tables. Now she can use only the 12
tables within her unit.
Madam Wang, who has been
operating at Beach Road for the
last five years, said that she had
“no choice” but to extend her restaurant farther out on to the public walkway, due to a partition
erected in front of her unit by the
management council of her building about two years ago.
“I know I’m not supposed to
even operate in the area immediately outside my shop, but maybe
it wouldn’t have been so bad,” she
said.
The spokesman for the management council said : “The responsibility lies with the landlord to
make sure that their tenants know
the rules.”
Madam Wang’s only gripe now
is why other restaurants along her
street are still operating outdoor
dining areas.
A waiter at a nearby steamboat
restaurant said: “If we can’t operate outside, it’s the end for us,
which is why we continue putting
the tables even after being fined.”
When The Straits Times visited
on Thursday night, this other restaurant had customers seated
right alongside the road.
The URA spokesman said that
it takes into consideration
“on-site situations, other agencies’ requirements and public feedback when dealing with outdoor
refreshment areas”.
“When there is a planning condition prohibiting outdoor dining
and the outdoor refreshment
areas become excessive and causes public nuisance, or obstruction
to the users in the area, URA will
take appropriate action.”
STACEY CHIA