Manila Water Asia Pacific, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila Water Company, Inc., recently held a groundbreaking event led by Manila Water  President and CEO Ferdinand Dela Cruz and Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil to mark the official start of the construction of a micro-library donated to the Government of Bandung, Indonesia.

In the early part of 2018, Manila Water Asia Pacific turned over a USD50,000 grant to Bandung City to finance the construction of the two-story micro-library. It is expected to be completed within the year and will have a total floor area of 144 square meters capable of accommodating up to 10,000 books for use of the residents of Babakan Sari Village in Kiaracondong sub-district in the capital of Indonesia's West Java province.  

According to Kamil, the development of the micro-library supports the city government’s initiatives to provide more library facilities to increase interest in reading among its citizens. Recent reports by the United Nations rank Indonesia as one of the countries with a low literacy rate.

Kamil hopes that the micro-library will begin to create a new generation who would love to read. He stressed the importance of reading in forming a nation of champions.
Meanwhile, Manila Water President and Chief Operating Officer Ferdinand Dela Cruz said that the innovative project symbolizes the realization of a shared vision between the city of Bandung and Manila Water to find a solution for sustainable prosperity and improvement for the modern city.

Dela Cruz further said that the cooperation between Manila Water with the City of Bandung is expected to grow more broadly based on the principle that countries and cities in Southeast Asia must work together for the common good. He emphasized that as part of the ASEAN, Manila Water and the Bandung City Government both understand and relate well to the problems and concerns that face each other, and therefore may effectively work together to forge the right solutions.

Manila Water Asia Pacific entered into a partnership with the City of Bandung in 2015 through a memorandum of understanding with PDAM Tirtawening Kota Bandung, a water utility company owned by the city government, for a pilot project that will reduce the system losses of the city.