Bandung, West Java (ANTARA News) - South Korean tap-water company K-Water has expressed its readiness to engage in the water processing industry in West Java with an investment of about 50 trillion rupiah, a local official said.

"So, South Korean tap water company K-Water is ready to invest 50 trillion rupiah in the clean water processing industry in our region. It is already doing the same thing in Lampung and Bali," West Java Vice Governor Dede Yusuf said here on Friday.

According to Dede Yusuf, if K-Water`s intention to invest is realized, the people`s need for clean water in Bandung city, Bandung district, the town of Cimahi and Bandung Barat district can be fulfilled.

Dede Yusuf said further that currently Bandung Raya needs 7,000 liters of clean water per second, but the designed capacity of the local tap-water company is only about 3,340 liters per second of water. So, there was a shortage of about 3,500 liters per second.

In a bid to meet the public need for clean water, the provincial government should encourage a lot of investment in the production of unprocessed water, the processing steps, the water shipment or transportation and supply pipes.

Dede Yusuf said, the central government through the National Development Planning agency had only allocated some 250 billion rupiah (for West Java) to develop water processing facilities until 2015.

Considering the urgent need for clean water and the current population r growth , it was predicted that the local government would be unable to meet the people`s demand for clean water.

Therefore, the provincial administration needed to cooperate with investors to increase the region`s water processing capacity, Dede Yusuf said.(*)

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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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